The New Mutant in the Family
by allyg1990
Summary: Kurtty, Romy, BobbyXOC, AleX23, Samara, OCXOC, Minor Rohne, Loro. Join Lilly, alias Vortex, as she deals with life, love and mutanthood. Enter Leo, a bad boy with an attitude to spice things up. Rated for Safety. Epilouge up!
1. The Wedding

It was a hot day, and the stiff fabric of my new dress was rubbing against my skin as I sat in the first row of pews in the small church, watching my older sister tie the knot.

We generally got on well, Cherry and I- though the fact that she was seven and a half years older than me and barely ever around didn't help.

There was, of course, the huge difference between us- that she was a mutant, and I, at age fourteen and three quarters, still seemed to be pretty human.

Many of her X-Men friends were there, people I knew vaguely from visits to the institute where she lived. For example, the guy earning disapproving looks from the vicar for his inability to remove his red-tinted sunglasses was Scott Summers, accompanied by his wife, the former Jean Grey, and their three year old daughter Rachel, bobbing happily up and down in a frilly pink dress that was eye-wateringly bright.

It was the part of the service where the exchange of vows takes place, and Cherry was looking flushed and happy in her traditional white dress, at least, until the vicar started talking.

"Do you, Cherryblossom Chrysanthemum Rose Garcia, take this man to be your husband?" A wave of giggling washed through the congregation, the revelation amusing them.

She glared at me, and I shrugged, palms facing the ceiling. It had, of course, been me who had told her fiancé, Bobby Drake, about her full name, who in turn had told the vicar. I liked the guy- he had a sense of humor, going as far as to prank his future wife on their wedding day.

As he winced my smirk got wider- Cherry had obviously put an added strain on their clasped hands, or maybe even shocked him, though I hadn't seen any pink light. Then again, she was getting increasingly better at hiding it.

"And ah thought plain old Cherry was a stupid name." muttered Rogue loudly, popping one of the touch pills she felt more comfortable doing with than without in such close proximity to so many people. Her husband, the notoriously tricky man my sister referred to as 'Remy' but the younger recruits I'd shared a car with on the way to the ceremony called Gambit, patted her hand affectionately. Next to me sat my sister's old school friend Katie, her long term boyfriend Ray Crisp running a finger inside the collar of his starched white shirt to alleviate the itch. She proceeded to slap his finger away: being the former president, and now the ambassador to England's granddaughter, she knew well that scratching your neck was not something you did in public, especially not at a wedding.

"I do." Cherry said calmly, no trace of annoyance in her voice.

"And do you, Robert Louis _Bartholomew-_" He spluttered in indignation, as another ripple of laughter echoed around the room. I shot a grin at a boy sitting on the opposite side of the congregation, who'd seen fit to divulge this bit of information for the greater good. That was Josh, Bobby's younger brother who was a year older than me, my partner in crime. We'd first met two years ago, we'd become fast friends, and this little scheme was just one of many. "-Drake, take this woman to be your wife?"

After a he'd composed his features once more, he spoke. "I do." The vicar smiled.

"In that case, you may now kiss the bride." An unceremonious cheer rose up from the mutant kids in the congregation, refusing to be hushed by the disapproving looks of various relatives. The couple just laughed, and we all hurried out of the church. I managed to squeeze my way through the crowd just in time to see another of Cherry's friends, Kitty Pryde, snatch the bouquet out of the air, and turn to her fiancé, Kurt Wagner. 

"Well, that was obvious." She remarked dryly, before kissing him right there in front of everyone.

Grandma Garcia looked as if she was about to have an apoplectic fit.

The reception was short; there was barely time to cut the cake and eat a few hurried bites before the newlyweds had to leave for their honeymoon- to Tibet, of all places.

"Why _Tibet_?" I'd asked them. "It's too cold!" Bobby laughed.

"Exactly. It's perfect. Cherry wants to visit somewhere different, temples and all, and I'm happy anywhere where there's some snow and ice." Explained the iceman. I groaned.

"In any case, _you_ aren't coming, so don't moan about it." Cherry had retorted back to me.

The short timescale of the event had left me little time to mix with any of the mutant kids, except for Josh, of course. He'd started at the institute two years earlier- his power let him manipulate water, which was just as useful as his elder brother's mutation for playing practical jokes. I nearly tipped over on my chair from laughing as he transported a few small bubbles of water onto Grandma Garcia's wig, grinning as she started looking upwards for the source of the water running down her nose.

Just before they left, my sister came over to say bye, and I hugged her.

"Congratulations, sissy." I quipped, referring to her incessant girlishness, another of our differences- I was the sportier one, despite her skill in combat due to her invulnerability. She laughed.

"Here, get your phone out, and I'll give you the number of the hotel where we're staying- mobiles won't work out there, I'm afraid." I rummaged around in my pockets, my face paling as I realized that I'd left my phone in the church, seven miles away.

"I…I left it on my pew…" I stuttered, desperately searching my pockets for the phone. When that failed, I scrunched up my face, my hands still in my pockets, and willed it to suddenly appear. _Please, please, please…._

And then I felt cold, hard plastic on my fingers, and frowned. Dragging the object out, I realized it was my missing cell phone.

"Hey, it wasn't there before!" I laughed. "I'm probably imagining things." My older sister looked at me quizzically.

"Sure you are." She said slowly. "Sure you are." And with a hug and a kiss she was gone, zooming away into the distance, the smoke trails from the exhaust of their car still lingering.

I didn't know that the first thing she did was communicate with the man sitting quietly in a corner.

_Professor? Did you just pick up on that?_

_Yes, Cherry. I'll handle it, don't worry. Have fun on your honeymoon. You'll need it, getting recruited to train the newer students on your return._ She smiled wryly.

_Take care of her._ And with that, she signed off with a sigh, leaving me to find out about my fate alone.

I lay awake that night, thinking about what had happened that day. Why had Cherry looked at me so oddly? _Did she think the thing with the phone was me exhibiting the signs of mutant hood she'd been so desperately searching for since the day she'd been discovered herself?_ _Me, joining the mutant club?_

So I wasn't surprised, the next day, when the Professor visited us once again. Mom had practically jumped up and down when he told her of his suspicions. She came into my room.

"Honey, could you come down for a minute? Professor Xavier's here, he wants to talk to you." I ripped the headphones from my ears, letting the music blare faintly through them before I switched off my ipod.

"Hi, Professor." I said when I saw him. He nodded to me.

"Hello, Lilly. You may know already why I'm here." I shook my head, secretly knowing what was coming.

"Lilly, that incident with the mobile phone-" I cut into his sentence before he could continue.

"You think it was a display of mutant powers." I finished for him, and crossed my arms. He sighed.

"No, Lilly. I _know_ it was. Would you try and do it again, to convince yourself?" I rubbed my eyes wearily.

"Sure." I stretched out my palm. "What do you want me to do?" He held up a small brass key.

"Try this. Focus on it. Imagine it's in your hand." I obeyed, scrunching my nose in the process. For a while nothing happened- then, a pull of power burst out from me, and when I opened my eyes, the key was sitting neatly in the palm of my hand.

"So." I said, without much emotion. "Tele-whatever it is." He shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Not telekinesis, Lilly. Do it again, with your eyes open." He took the key from me. I concentrated, staring at it. After what seemed like an eternity, the pull returned, and the key disappeared. I stepped back, cocking my head at his empty fingers, then looking at my hand. There it lay. I blinked once, then twice.

"What is it, then?" was all I could say.

"You know Mr. Wagner?" I nodded.

"He took us out of that prison cell, when I was seven." The old man nodded.

"He is a transporter. He disappears from one place-" He clicked one set of fingers- "And re appears in another." And then the other set. I waited patiently for him to continue.

"You do the same, Lilly- with objects. Maybe with people, eventually. I don't know the extent of it. But I can help you find out." I sighed.

"This is the part where I say 'yes please' and buzz off to the institute." He smiled, a genuine smile.

"That _is_ the ideal plan."

"Fine." I said at last. "S'not like I have too much to say goodbye to around here. When do I leave?"

"As soon as possible." With that I ran up to my room, shoving my belongings into a bag.

A fresh start. No-one ignoring me all the time. No more stares. A new beginning. That was the only reason I considered leaving home. I'd been different ever since I started middle school, morphing from a cute little girl into the outspoken, arty person I was today.

I looked up at the knock on the door. Mom. She smiled down at me, pride practically oozing out of every pore.

"You finally got what you always wanted. Isn't this wonderful?" I didn't speak, waiting until I was fully packed. Then I stood up.

"No. You finally got what _you_ always wanted. For me, it didn't matter." Then, with one last emotionless hug, I walked out, hugging my dad before I left.

_Hope you found the wedding funny._

_allyg1990_


	2. Meet the mutants

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the OC's and the plot._

When I slid into the black station wagon, I found that I wasn't alone in the car. On the other side of the seat sat a tall, rugged looking boy who looked to be around a year or so older than me- Josh's age. He scowled when I sat down, revealing a myriad of bruises on his collarbone, and heavy bruising around one brown eye.

"What are you looking at?" He muttered.

"No-one special." I replied, and unconsciously assumed his position, arms crossed, legs outstretched. The boy made no effort to introduce himself, and so I couldn't return the favor- not that I would have.

The professor soon was lifted in by Wolverine, another familiar person.

"Hey, kid." He said. "The last time I saw you, you looked like a stick with arms." I glared.

"Are you implying that I've fattened up?" He chuckled.

"Nah, if those karate lessons your mom told me you were taking are to blame, I'd say it was muscle." I smiled thinly at the compliment.

"Have you two introduced yourselves yet?" asked the Professor. I shook my head; the boy didn't respond at all. "I suggest you do so now, before I'm forced to do it for you." Neither of us reacted. He exhaled.

"Leonard, this is Lilyana-" I winced. Why had our parents insisted on giving both my sister and I elaborations of normal names? "Lilyana, this is Leonard." He smirked.

"Lilyana, huh? What kind of parent came up with _that_?" I bristled.

"I could say the same for _Leonard_." He was silent.

"My parents are dead." He didn't elaborate, and I refused to feel bad. He would have said the same in my shoes.

"It's Lily, anyway."

"Leo." He grunted, clearly only saying it to preserve a sense of pride. He slumped down lower in his seat, the tears in his jeans ripping a little bit more with every inch he slid.

"How long until I can get away from this guy?" I asked Logan, gesturing to Leo. He grinned.

"Only four hours. The X-Jet's out on a mission; we're driving the whole way." I groaned, and slumped over. This was going to be one _long_ trip.

When we finally arrived, I was fed up of being silent. The mansion was familiar to me, and I didn't look twice when it came into view. However, Leo's eyes widened slightly before he caught me looking at him, at which point they shrank back to their usual size.

"Looking at something?" I asked him coolly. His eyes narrowed.

"Nothing special." The gates swung open, and the car pulled up to the door. We got out, Logan helping me carry my several bags, Leo easily hauling his own little shoulder bag, which wasn't even full. I felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy, but quickly pushed it out of my mind. I was _not_ going to feel sorry for him. Not until hell froze over.

The mansion was surprisingly quiet. "Where are all the kids?" I asked. The professor, easily keeping pace with us in his wheelchair, answered me.

"They are all taking a training session." I frowned, and turned to the Canadian.

"I thought _you_ took the training sessions, Logan." He grinned wolfishly

"Laura's taken over this time- she's an even harder taskmaster than I am." I laughed.

"Like donor, like clone, huh?" He nodded.

"You can say that again." He dropped my bags with a thump outside a door. "Here's your room, kid. I'm just going to haul the lion cub over here-" Leo indignantly tried to flatten his messy hair, unaware that the reference was to his name, not his appearance. "To his room, and I'll see you at dinnertime- you've got half an hour to get settled in." I nodded.

"Thanks. See you later."

The room was spacious, void of much detail. I grinned. There was a lot of wall space to fill. I'd have to make use of it. Carefully I unrolled a poster from my luggage. My Chemical Romance. Perfect.

Half an hour later when Kitty stuck her head into my room to call me down to dinner, it was drastically improved.

"Whoa." She said, looking around. "This looks almost like Rogue's room when she was a little older than you." I laughed.

"I always knew she had good taste." The older woman smiled.

"I just hope you don't wear black all the time." I shook my head.

"Nope. Military green's more my color, matches the eyes." I quipped, pointing. It was her turn to laugh.

"Dinner's on the table. It's chicken stir fry, Laura's specialty- I think your sister taught her how to make it. I'm glad, or else we'd have two poisoners under one roof." I hopped down from the bed where I'd been perched.

"The current poisoner would be you, I assume." She grinned.

"My chocolate cupcakes are lethal."

When we reached the dinner room, Kitty introduced me.

"You guys have met Leo already, but this is our other new arrival, Lilly." As an afterthought, she added, "Cherry's sister." At once the teens all began talking at the same time, and it was only Josh waving me over that saved me from getting embarrassed. I _never_ get embarrassed.

Unfortunately, Leo was sitting opposite me.

"So, your sister's an instructor." I glared at him.

"You can't pick your relatives." He smirked.

"And you haven't got anyone to choose your friends from." He said, his annoying voice grating my ears.

"Actually, she's got me." Replied Josh, stepping in to my defense. Before Leo could answer back, a plateful of food was deposited in front of him, and after glancing around to make sure he wasn't being watched, he started hungrily shoveling the food down as if he hadn't eaten in days.

_Maybe he hasn't. _I thought, before I could stop myself, furious for keeping on thinking such thoughts. _Cut it out, Lilly! He's not some stray puppy you want to take in off the streets. Besides, he's arrogant, annoying, and can't mind his own business._

Between mouthfuls, the other kids introduced themselves.

"I'm Lizzy Candice, hailing from England. I shoot stuff." She demonstrated, a bolt of energy not unlike the ones Cherry produces hovering above her hand.

"I'm Louis Canard- _Je suis français_. **(I'm French.) **I can send people snoozing by tapping them on any patch of bare skin.** T**hey call me the dreamboat." He added proudly. Another girl snorted.

"It's _Dreamer._ Can't you remember your own codename, you duck?" She turned to me. "I'm Alice Leon. Plain old American."

"Tell her about your powers,_ Cupid._" She glared at Louis.

"I won't do a demonstration to prove it, but I control… attraction." I grinned.

"You mean human attraction?" She nodded glumly.

"It's pretty sucky really, what am I supposed to do in a battle, make the enemy fall in love with people- or me? It's a fat lot of use." The only other person left spoke up, a Chinese American girl who seemed to be less outgoing than the others.

"I'm Lorelei- Acrylicyst." Josh sniggered, and she shot a look at him. "What? It was a better choice than what you suggested!" She rolled her eyes. "He wanted me to call myself 'Plasticine', 'cause I control plastic. How inventive, right?" I grinned at my friend.

"Sounds like something he would do." I told her. Josh spluttered.

"First, I stick up for you, and then you agree with the enemy? That's not the way to make a permanent X-Friend."

At that moment a guy in his late teens sidled in and sat down, followed by what seemed to be his identical twin, which went and picked up a plateful of stir-fry, set it in front of the guy, and seemed to disappear.

"Hi Jamie." Said Alice cheerfully. "Where have you been?" He grinned.

"On six dates at the same time. Gone are the days when I used my multiples solely to make breakfast for me. I have gone on to greater things." He picked up his plate and rested it on his legs, which had gone onto the table. Lizzy wrinkled her nose.

"Just because you're older than us doesn't mean you can stick your stinking socks in front of our noses." He shrugged, and then caught sight of me.

"Well if it isn't mini Cherry. You've grown since I last saw you." I grinned up at the oversized boy, recognizing him at last.

"So have you." I informed him. "You were about my height two years ago." He mock-pouted.

"I was at least three inches taller." I leant back in my chair, careful to support myself. This might be easier for me than it was for my sister- I already knew most of the people here.

"So what are your powers?" he asked me.

"I transport stuff from place to place. Like, the professor had me vanish a key from across the room and make it appear in my hand. He said maybe I could move people later on."

"What about you, Leo?" asked Lizzy. Leo's head snapped up from his plate, where it had been fixated for the last few minutes.

"Huh?"

"Your power, background, stuff like that." She continued patiently. He relaxed.

"Um, American." His lips curved into a sneering smile. "And my power?" Instead of telling us, he grabbed one of the metal cups (Bought so that mugs wouldn't keep getting smashed.) and crushed it between his hands, compacting it into a centimeter-wide pellet. "I'm super strong."

Surprisingly, instead of being amazed and thinking it was cool, the other X-Teens just raised their eyebrows.

"You know, everything you destroy, you pay for." Remarked Alice. Leo's face fell, and I grinned.

"I don't have any cash, though." He said his voice quieter than usual. Alice waved it away.

"Don't worry about it. Professor Xavier takes it out of your allowance." He perked up at this.

"We get an _allowance?_" Lizzy nodded, and then stood up, taking her plate over to the sink and lowering it in.

"Remember, Josh, it's your turn to wash the dishes." My friend groaned, bringing his chair back to sit firmly on the ground. I followed suit, and put my dish away as well.

"Good luck with that." I told him, before turning away.

"What, no 'Do you want me to help you?'" I smiled widely.

"I'm not my sister. Remember that." And I walked off to my room.

_Hope you like Lilly, I like her more than Cherry personally._

_allyg1990_


	3. Fights and Phone Calls

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the stuff you haven't seen in the TV. Show_

That night, slightly bored, I decided to call my sister. I chose to use a landline, thinking the connection would probably be better. The problem was, first I had to find one.

I padded downstairs quietly, hearing voices and music faintly seeping through the door-cracks. At the foot of the stairs, I literally bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going." Snapped a voice, and the figure turned around. Leo. I rolled my eyes, arms akimbo.

"Sorry-ee. Have you seen a landline around here? He shook his head.

"No. You're the one who's been here before." We were silent for a moment, and I was about to walk away when he blurted out,

"What kind of stuff do they have here? Like, sports facilities." I shrugged.

"I only ever saw the first floor, and my sister's room. But she mentioned a couple of things. There's an outdoor pool in the summer, but I don't know if they've drained it yet, they cover it up before school starts. And a soccer pitch, and a new squash court-" He visibly brightened at this.

"Do you play?" I asked.

"A little."

"Oh. I wouldn't have thought it." I said, an automated response. Actually, why wouldn't he play? He looked muscled enough, so he must do _some_ sport…

When he spoke again, his face was stony.

"Why wouldn't I? Is it because orphanages usually don't have squash courts?" I took a step back.

"That's not what I meant-" he brushed away my attempt at salvaging the conversation.

"Forget it. You're not the first person to think you're better than me, and I guarantee you won't be the last." He stalked off, leaving me more confused than hurt. Why did he assume everyone was out to get him? I shook my head, and continued my search.

When I finally found a phone, I dialed in the hotel number Cherry had given me. After a short conversation with a Tibetan man with heavily accented English, there was a crackling noise, and I heard Cherry's voice.

"Lilly? Is that you?"

"Yeah. How's it going?" Her response was enthusiastic.

"Great! We went up to a little village today. It was fun, and the food here is fabulous." Then, after a short period of silence:

"I hear you've joined the institute."

"Yeah." My tone was flat, and she seemed to pick up on it.

"How's it going so far?" I thought about it.

"Fine. The other kids seem to be okay." She laughed. "There's this one new boy, Leo-" I started.

"Is he cute?" she butted in. I sighed dramatically.

"More like desperately annoying."

"Poor guy." She said finally.

"What? You feel bad for him because I think he's annoying?"

"No, because of his past." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard the sob story. He was in an orphanage."

"Not just that." She put in. "When I spoke to the professor this morning, he told me that he had to go get him straight after the wedding. Don't tell anyone else, I shouldn't be telling you this, really, but…" She paused, and I instinctively looked around to make sure no-one was listening.

"He was pretty badly beaten up when the professor and Logan found him. It seems like the orphanage director didn't take to him." I breathed in sharply.

"As far as I heard, they even had to take him to hospital for stitches."

"He looked okay to me." I said skeptically. My sister had a tendency of exaggerating things.

"At least he got his own back on the guy." She told me. "Threw him through several walls." I grinned before I could stop myself, and then schooled my features into my usual emotionless expression. I _was_ not going to feel sorry for him- just because he had a past didn't mean he had to be a jerk.

We talked for a little longer, carefully sidestepping around the issue of my mutant powers. I didn't feel bad for not divulging information; I knew she'd just find out from mom, if she didn't know already.

After having a medical with Dr. McCoy, I had nothing else scheduled for the night. Not wanting to barge into anyone's room like an insistent toddler and demand that they entertain me, I decided to explore the mansion.

First, I found a downward staircase hidden behind a door. I went down it; it didn't seem to be secret or anything, as it was completely lit up. The walls seemed to be made of solid metal, and I nearly shivered; it was too reminiscent of Magneto's base where my parents and I had been held before Cherry, Kurt and Kitty saved us.

However, these walls were not dark and steely; rather friendlier. They obviously weren't made of adamantium though, as two and three clawed scratch marks were visible, engraved in by Laura or Logan in fits of temper

The adults in question turned the corner at that instant, claws sheathed, and both fully suited up. With them were Kurt, Kitty, and a tall blond man I didn't recognize.

"Leely!" exclaimed the blue mutant when I came into sight, turning to Logan and giving him a look. "_Was?_ Are you making her do a danger room session already?" He shook his head.

"But seeing as you're down here…?" I shook my head fiercely.

"I was just looking for the… squash court!" I blurted out, thinking of the first thing that came into my head. The blond man grinned.

"Out to join your friend, huh? It's down the hallway and to the left." I nodded.

"Thanks, Mr.…?" I started, not knowing who he was.

"Summers." He replied, and after getting elbowed by Laura, "But Alex works just fine." The clone smirked up at him, over a foot shorter.

"Nice try, surfer dude. You're not a staff member yet."

"Neither are you." He rebutted. She grinned.

"Yet. And as long as the kids are scared of me, who cares if it's official or not?"

I left them to their thinly veiled flirting and started walking in the direction he'd said. If I didn't put in an appearance, they would think I _was_ snooping around.

The courts were impressive, three glass-doored rooms, a bucket of rackets and balls on one side of the corridor. I looked around, but didn't see or hear Leo playing.

_Well, as long as I'm down here…_ I thought, grabbing a racket and a ball. _Might as well get some exercise before bedtime._

I stepped onto one of the courts, the glass door closing silently behind me. Then my jaw dropped.

The wall was littered with ball-sized craters, as if someone had thrown heavy objects on them. A split racket lay on the ground. I went and picked it up.

_Who did this?_ I thought, marveling at the way the metal was bent. Then I heard a noise and spun around. Unnoticed, sitting in the corner, was Leo, his knees bent, elbows propped up on them, and his face buried in his hands.

"Leo…?" I kept my tone cautious, not knowing how to react to this. Girls crying, I could deal with. Boys… were a different matter.

At the mention of his name, his head snapped upwards.

"Leave me alone." He growled. I refused to, gesturing to the wall.

"Pretty impressive, that." I commented. He stood up.

"I…said…leave…me…alone!" He shouted, his face inches away from mine. I was unfazed.

"It's not polite to shout at people for doing nothing." I remarked. At this, he lost it, grabbing my shirt and pulling me right up to eye level effortlessly. I paled considerably,

_What to do, what to do, what to do?_ I thought, losing my cool for once. I couldn't try to use my powers to transport me or him away from each other- We might end up in little pieces or something terrible like that!

I needn't have worried. His face lost its angry expression, and he gently set me back down again, slamming his hands back to his forehead.

"I won't do that again." He mumbled. "It makes me worse than _him_." I was still shaken, but managed to hesitantly place a hand on his shoulder, wincing when, after a few seconds, he shook it off.

"Please go." He said quietly. I thought that maybe this time I should take his advice, walking slowly out of the court, looking behind me to check that he was alright.

That night I lay awake for a while. It had been an eventful first day, to say the least. And what was with Leo? I got the impression that he was more complicated than he was letting on. I moaned internally. _This is going to totally mess up my vow to always think he's a total idiot._ Then I sighed. Thinking about _that,_ would have to wait until morning.

_Hope the Leo stuff isn't too complicated._

_allyg1990_


	4. Danger Room and Disagreements

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from evo, I don't own. Hope you like it, PLEASE review. Reviews make my day. Very literally. Whenever I get one I start jumping around crazily and my roommates look at me as if I'm crazy. Which I am, but anyway, on to the story!_

The next morning I walked down to breakfast once I'd changed and washed up. I was late for breakfast, and the only person left at the table was Leo.

"Hey." I said, sitting down. He glared at me. I frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I was taken aback.

"Um, maybe something to do with your breakdown last night?"

"There was no breakdown." He snapped. "Nothing happened." I rolled my eyes. Typical guy, wanting to preserve his ego.

"Whatever you say…" I trailed off, and helped myself to some bacon.

A few minutes later Wolverine came in.

"Alright, class, time for your first danger room session."

"Danger room…?" asked Leo hesitantly. Logan grinned, his smile baring gleaming white teeth.

"Yup. Danger room." He tossed us each a package. "Suit up in the changing rooms and meet me down there in fifteen. It's around the corner from the squash courts." He started to leave, and then paused. "And Leo? You've got a meeting with the professor after noon about the state of them." And with that he walked off.

If the boy felt any annoyance at getting found out, none of it showed on his face. _Then again, _I thought, _by the looks of him, he's been to the principal's office for a lot worse than denting a couple of holes in the walls._

We opened our packages at the same time. Leo groaned when he saw his classic New Mutant costume.

"Aw, man! Please don't tell me I have to wear spandex!" He said without thinking, and then resumed his usual bad-boy exterior when he saw me laughing at his expression.

Fifteen minutes later we both met in front of the danger room, marked by the large X over the door. Though the material wasn't quite spandex (Cherry had mentioned carbon fiber) it was still tight fitting, and in that way, quite revealing.

Leo was apparently having the same problem. It was an effort to keep composed when I saw him in his suit, looking like someone from the old Romeo and Juliet movie. He scowled at me.

"Looking at something?" I very nearly colored.

"Nope." I assured him. "You?"

This time it was his turn to flush slightly. "No." At that moment the doors slid open, and we both walked into the metal-edged room. There stood Logan, and a white-haired, dark skinned woman I knew was Storm.

"Lilly, Leo, before we start your formal fitness training, we'd just like to take you for a short power control session to assess your abilities. Leo, you will be with Wolverine. Lilly, you are with me." She paused. "And to clarify, we use our codenames when we are in danger room or on missions. So it would be useful if you would choose yours quickly."

So Leo waltzed off with Logan to the other side of the room. Storm watched him go, and then turned to me.

"So, Lilly, could you please demonstrate?" she held up a small object: a button. I held my palm flat in front of me, and concentrated. It easily reappeared on my hand. She laughed.

"Great job. Now try this." The objects became larger and larger, until I was shifting a large dictionary across the full length of the danger room. By this time I was slightly worn, sweat droplets forming on my forehead. It wasn't over yet.

Storm then had me send objects _back_ to her. This was considerably harder, and I barely managed to move a brick back into her hands when Logan returned with Leo. He reached out to ruffle his hair, and the boy ducked out of reach, straightening with a red face. The man ignored the boy's discomfort and started talking.

"This guy here managed to powder a steel boulder- and his powers aren't even fully developed." Leo's red face just got redder. It was clear he wasn't used to praise. Storm turned to me.

"Lilly's been doing pretty well too. Care to demonstrate?" She held out a dictionary, meaning for me to summon it to myself. Smirking, I made it drop on Leo's head. He jumped a mile.

"Ow! What the _hell_ was that for?" I scowled.

"I didn't even drop it from a centimeter above your head. It couldn't possible have hurt _that_ much." Logan hid a smile, but Storm was stricter.

"Never abuse your powers, Lilly. That's the first step towards becoming someone like Magneto. And I don't think you want _that_?" She said it like a question, and I once again shivered.

"No." I said quietly. "I don't." She clapped her hands.

"In that case, on to the session! There are only two rules: avoid the light beams, and destroy as many guns as you can." Both instructors strode out of the room, shortly appearing in the control room above, watching us.

With a clicking sound, guns burst out from all sides, at about head height. I quickly set about dodging the beams, adding in a quick kick to crush one every few minutes. Leo was not so rule-abiding. Ignoring the currently harmless beams, he went over to each gun and crushed it bare handed until only one was left.

I smirked as he went flying past me, inches away from my nose. Logan had obviously put in a real bolt to teach the boy a lesson. He got up angrily, clearly restraining himself from hitting something. I hastily backed off, not wanting to be the target. Wolverine's voice sounded from somewhere.

"Kid, when Storm tells you to do something, do it. Or you get hurt. Here comes round two." New guns came out of the walls, and I sighed. There was a long day ahead of me.

After danger room, Leo must have showered, because as I headed to the girl's bathroom I saw him walking towards Professor Xavier's study, his hair still dripping. I couldn't help but notice that his borrowed shirt was a little tight, and what skin I _could_ see was toned and tanned. I shook my head. _Snap out of it, Lilly!_

The next time I saw him, he wasn't in a good mood. I was sitting on the couch with Alice, sharing the headphones on her ipod. Her collection wasn't bad, but a little too exotic for my taste. Leo stormed up to me, face contorted with anger.

"Can I have a word?" he asked, straining to keep his voice civil. I stood up, and because he didn't back away, my nose ended up at chin level, only two inches away from him. I couldn't help but notice that he smelled slightly spicy.

"What?" I asked.

"What did you tell the professor guy?" I tilted my head.

"I haven't spoken to him since I arrived. Why?" His fists were shaking by this point.

"You must have told him something about last night. He's making me take anger management with him." I snorted.

"Good. You _need_ therapy." He bristled.

"So you _did_ tell him!" 

"I did no such thing!" I retorted truthfully. "I'm not a snitch! You didn't seem to want me to tell anyone else, so I didn't. The hundred holes in the wall might have given the guy clues about your anger issues!"

Alice had been curiously watching our conversation for the last minute, and chose that minute to step in.

"Guys, cool it. In case you didn't know, Leo, Xavier's a telepath- he could have picked it up from Lilly's thoughts. Or your own. So don't go around blaming people." He walked off, leaving us alone again.

"Whoah." She commented. "What happened?" I flopped back down.

"He kind of picked me up by way of my shirt collar yesterday when I caught him breaking down by the squash courts. So he thinks I told the prof." She looked at me curiously.

"You know, I don't just control attraction." She paused. "I can also sense it."

"Cool." I replied, flicking through a magazine. She didn't pursue the topic further, and I didn't ask her any more, though deep down, a tiny part of me knew what she was hinting at. And maybe even agreed.

_Ach, I didn't mean to put fluff in. Bleee…_

_allyg1990_


	5. Revelations and Bad Crowds

A few days later, after I'd finished my rigorous beginner's training course and had time to lighten up a bit, I discovered that the pool wasn't quite out of commission: it was being drained the next day. So we all decided to take one last swim.

All of us, that is, except Leo, who stood sullenly by the side of the pool, wearing swimming trunks below his cotton t-shirt, but refusing to get in.

"What now?" I jibed. "Are you scared of water or something?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

"No. I just don't want to get in." I crossed my arms.

"Chicken." I suddenly noticed the difference between him, and Louis, who had just gotten out and was toweling off. "Are you scared to take your shirt off?" At this he stood up.

"Do you want me to?" I was startled.

"Makes no difference either way." He sat back down.

"In that case…" he shrugged. I grinned.

"You really _don't_ want to take your shirt off!" I said triumphantly. He glared at me.

"Fine. You know what? I'll get in. Damn, you really won't let anything go!" he told me. I smirked.

"Comes with the job. Now get in so we have proof that you're not going to drown if we decide to throw you into the lake." He scowled, and then pulled his shirt up over his head. I had to stifle a gasp. Lacing his chest were numerous bruises, newly healed cuts and a few small scars. I was still standing there when he dove in, resulting in me getting completely soaked. Not that I wasn't already, but it was still annoying.

While we were swimming around I casually mentioned, "When my sister gets back in a month or so, you should get her to have a look at those. She has healing power; reduces the time it takes for scars to heal." I swam a short distance away, expecting him to get huffy. Instead, he just fingered one of the wider bands of pink tissue.

"That would be great." He said wistfully, and then grinned. "I can't have _too_ many scars. I understand that the girls like a couple, but this-" He waved a hand over his torso. "-May be a few too many."

This was one of the things I didn't understand about him. Half the time, he was a total idiot; the other half he was perfectly civil, bordering on friendly. It was confusing. So much so that my nerves always acted up around him these days- probably mentally preparing for attack.

The first day of school was uneventful- despite what people might think, I was a reasonably good student, though academics didn't really interest me. I was a more art-and-music kind of girl.

Luckily, after endless hours of math, English and science classes, I finally got a nice two-hour block of art. The teacher was an eccentric woman, dressed in a wraparound skirt, a fuchsia ruffled shirt, a pair of oversized glasses frames that didn't include lenses; and to top it all off, bright purple stilettos with two-inch heels.

First she gave us a ten minute lecture about art- _'embrace the _color_!"- _gesticulating violently with her hands, eliciting giggles from some of the less mature members of our class when she accidentally whacked a boy in the face.

Then she announced just one more thing- "Our topic for the year is 'people'" and went back to her own painting, a large piece of canvas covered in paint splodges, with no discernable pattern yet emerging.

For a while, I stared down at the piece of paper in front of me, the blank white space itching to be filled. Lizzy, sitting across from me, looked up, her face glum.

"Wonderful!" she said, her British accent very apparent, "We have to do people. It's especially terrible in this classroom; it's so stuffy and boiling hot at the beginning of term." I looked blankly at her.

"Term?" she sighed.

"Sorry, I forgot that you Americans call them semesters."

"So how long have you been at the institute?" I asked, not bothering to keep my voice low, as most of the class was just messing around and talking.

"About eight months. It was around Christmastime when-" she twiddled her fingers. "-you know." I grinned.

"That must have been interesting."

"I suppose you could say that. I accidentally fried the Christmas tree. Luckily mum and dad thought it was very amusing." I snuck a peek at her drawing, and had to stifle a laugh. She'd drawn a stick figure man, his eyes crossed, slightly off-balance, a glass of something labeled 'Pimms' in his hand.

"Maybe you should ask if you could do it with clay." I suggested. "Or try some carving back at the mansion with…" I nodded down to her hands, where I'd seen the odd electric-blue power bolt escape on occasion. She shrugged.

"Why not? It would probably turn out better than _this_." She gestured down to her paper. I smiled, and then looked down again. What could I draw…?

An hour later, my sketch was finished- a boy sitting on a doorstep, elbows propped on his knees, arms loosely crossed in front off him. He was staring down to the ground, the light brown bit of shading I'd given his eyes making them seem all the more realistic.

It could have been anyone, but Lizzy got the wrong idea.

"Who's _that_?" she said, her voice knowing. I scowled.

"No-one real." I muttered, knowing who she thought it might be.

"Really?" she said teasingly. "Because it looks an awful lot like…"

"Trust me, it isn't _him_." I assured her, really just assuring myself. "Why would I draw someone I don't like?" She shrugged again.

"Whatever. Come on, let's pack up. Scott's giving us younger kids a ride home. We wouldn't want to make our fearless leader annoyed, especially now that Rachel's going through a 'Why?' phase."

We needn't have worried- for once in his life; _Scott_ was late, the three year old girl jumping around on the backseat making the reason obvious.

"Hi." She said happily when we slid in, shortly joined by Josh and Alice. Louis was driving Lorelei (or Lori as she'd told me to call her) back to the mansion after her filmmaking club, (he had soccer tryouts), and so the only person we were waiting for was Leo.

After half an hour, Scott decided he'd had enough. "If Leo wants a ride, he can turn up on time. I'll get Kurt to teleport over and pick him up later." I thought that Rachel constantly tugging his hair and threatening to remove his shades was another reason that he was getting irritable. So we drove off, leaving Leo to do whatever he was doing.

He finally trooped in around dinnertime- Kurt had tried to find him, to no avail. He was immediately called in to talk to the professor, so we were halfway through our pasta by the time he pulled up a chair.

"Where _were_ you?" asked Lori. He smiled slyly.

"Out." He said simply. "Just because you guys have no social life doesn't mean _I _have to be a goody two shoes.

"Actually, you do." Cut in Alice. "You need maintain at least a C grade average, or you get extra danger room sessions. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Louis snorted into his soda.

"It's possible to have a social life _and_ get the work done, _mon ami_." He said. Leo glared at him.

"_You_ have a car." Louis nodded.

"And if _you _get a driver's license when you're sixteen, and churn out a couple of excellent report cards, you'll get one too. Mind you, mine wasn't always in such good shape- it was second hand, so I needed to give it a paint job and everything. But it's still pretty generous of the professor, seeing as he's not even related or anything." Then, after a few seconds, "So what punishment did you get?" 

"Only an extra danger room session, and a warning. If I do it again I'll get grounded for two weeks." The older boy gave him a sympathetic look.

"You're lucky. When I waltzed in at around eleven one night, I got a solid month of sessions, plus I had to polish the X-Jet. Fortunately, Kurt took pity on me and gave me a hand. He remembered when Bobby, Jubilee and some of the other X-men took it for a joyride when they were still new recruits and got it all muddy, so they had to clean it off."

"What happened to all the other X-Men?" I asked. "I mean, I remember my sister telling me stories about what they got up to, and I met them briefly, but I didn't see any of them at the wedding."

Alice thought about it.

"Well, Bobby married your sister-" I grinned, "Ray's with the government now, but you already know that 'cause of his girlfriend being your sister's friend and everything. Amara made Sam go on a world tour of volcanoes with her, he was the only person that she could convince. Rahne went back to Scotland to do research with Dr. Taggert, Roberto opted to go with her, apparently he wears about seven sweaters every day because he's not used to it being cold. Jamie's here of course, he's studying psychology at uni-"

"_Psychology?_ I wouldn't have thought it." Lizzy laughed.

"No, you wouldn't, would you? But now whenever you get mad at him he interprets it as triggered by a bad experience you had when you were younger. Like about my thing with his socks, he asked me if I had a brother who gagged me with stinky socks or something. He draws the strangest conclusions."

"Where was I?" continued Alice. "Oh yeah, Jubilee has her own fireworks business, she found out a way to contain her blasts so they explode later on. It's a big hit, and she sends us a free boxful on the fourth of July. Kurt and Kitty are here as instructors, you've seen them, Rogue and Gambit are around too, but they keep to themselves most of the time, Gambit's not as much as a ladies man since he and Rogue got married. If Laura or Logan are off somewhere, Rogue covers the training sessions for them; her favorite simulation is when we have to rescue someone from New Orleans in the middle of Mardi gras. Scott's still team leader, but Jean's more preoccupied with Rachel. Alex is only here to try and convince Laura to go out with him, though I don't see why he'd want to risk having limbs sliced off every time they'd argue." Lori sniggered.

"I don't think he realizes how blatantly obvious he's being, Laura picked up on it the second he walked into the door. She swears she can smell the pheromones."

The next month or so passed fairly well- I got A's on my report card in everything but physics, which I found utterly boring. So I was happy when I walked out of school the next day- it was a reason to call my parents, as I avoided phoning with no reason- I didn't see the point of idle chat.

As I was heading to the car, I spotted Leo, slouched against a wall with some other boy. When I got closer, I could see that they were smoking.

I marched up to them.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him indignantly. He raised his eyebrows, removing the cigarette from his lips.

"When did you become such an angel?" I scowled.

"I'm not, but Kurt's picking us up, and he's right over there, so if you don't want to be on laundry duty for the next month I'd quit." His companion turned to me.

"Well, if it isn't one of our institute X-Men. What's your power, incessant nagging?" My jaw dropped.

"What the _hell_, Leo? You're not supposed to tell anyone about our powers!" The boy grinned.

"I'm not telling anyone- I'm a mutant myself. Youngest member of the brotherhood."

_The brotherhood?_ I frowned. _The others might have mentioned them, and I think I remember from the TV show- the bad guys._

"What's your power, super smoking?" I retorted. His nasty smile got wider.

"You could say that…" And at once, the smoke from his cigarette was joined by smoke emitted from his index finger, spinning towards me, and I was blinded, becoming deaf in the process too. I dropped to the floor and must have hit my head or something, because next thing I knew, I was unconscious.

_Leo's Point of View_

"What did you do, Nick?" I yelled, reaching out to catch her and missing. My friend flicked his smoke lazily.

"I'll get it off." He said reluctantly, referring to the haze of smoke settling around her eyes and ears. With a flick of his finger, it evaporated away, and I tried to wake her up,

"Lilly? Lilly? Wake up!" She spluttered a little, and then her eyes opened.

"Get off me, jerk!" She yelled, and shoved me away, proceeding to snatch the cigarette out of my hand with her powers and deposit it into a trash can. "I'll deal with you later." She warned me, and stalked off.

Nick whistled. "That's one feisty girl you've got there. But isn't she a little young for you?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm _not_ going out with her. We don't even like each other." I explained patiently. "Besides, there's only eight months difference. I was born in July, I think her birthday's in January." He grinned.

"I find it funny how you say you don't like her, then go into a '_besides_' statement to justify why you _could_ go out with her. Oh well, your loss. Want another one?" he asked, offering me his cigarette packet. I pushed it aside.

"Nope. I'd better go." And I marched off, breaking into a sprint to get to the car before it drove away.

_Bit longer this time._

_allyg1990_


	6. Switching Sides

Lilly's Point of View

When we got back, I was furious. I hadn't talked at all during the fifteen minute car drive, and Leo didn't make an attempt to talk about it either. As soon as I got through the door I waited for him to get through, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him aside.

"What were you playing at?" I hissed in his ear. He tried to wrench himself out of my grip and walk away, but I held on firmly.

"I got him to get the stuff off you. I woke you up, for Christ's sake! I could have just let you lie there and walked away!" He replied, obviously trying to keep a lid on his anger.

"That's not the point!" I kept my voice fairly quiet. "Going around with the brotherhood, _smoking,_ you don't _do_ that!" He finally got himself out of my hold.

"Just stop bugging me!" he yelled, and stomped off to his room, and I heard the door slam behind him.

A few hours later, after I'd finished my homework, I decided to go see him- not to apologize, of course, I hadn't done anything wrong- just to see if he was sulking.

I knocked on his door. "Leo?" There was no answer, so I tried again. "Leo?" Finally, I just barged in.

His room looked awfully bare. _I thought he had more stuff than that_. I thought. Only his suit lay on the floor, still seeming to be clean, but awfully rumpled. I picked it up and absently folded it as I looked around, then I set it on his bed and walked out.

I walked around the institute, trying to find him. As I went through the corridor, suddenly two people seemed to slip through the wall right in front of me. My heart stopped for a few moments until they untangled themselves from each other and turned to face me.

"Oh." Said Kitty, red faced.

"Hi Leely." Kurt's cheeks were more purple than red.

"Have either of you seen Leo?" They shook their heads, so I carried on, choosing not to bring up the awkward moment. As I walked down the corridor, I heard Kitty say, "Come on, my room's only a wall away," and I shook my head. Adults.

An hour later I was still searching, and after asking both Logan _and _Laura to sniff him out (They couldn't find a trace) I went to the professor.

I didn't have to ask him if he knew anything, or tell him that Leo was missing; he simply said "Come with me, and we'll see if we can find him with Cerebro."

It was the first time I'd seen the giant machine, and I didn't dare move as the screens lit up around me. The professor just closed his eyes, and I just stood there in a trance-like state, watching the swirling figures on the screen.

Then Leo popped up, a three dimensional version of him talking, laughing with someone. My heart skipped a beat- he was okay! I quickly pushed away my relief.

"Where is he?" I asked. The professor kept his eyes glued to the screen.

"The brotherhood boarding house. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." I was silent for a while.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Lilly?" I paused, then spoke.

"It's my fault he left."

"Lilly," he said, turning off Cerebro, "I very much doubt that the blame should be entirely placed on your shoulders. But please inform me why you think so." I took a breath, and then started.

"I haven't been that nice to him. In fact, I've barely ever been even civil. I don't know why, just…" I ran a hand through my hair. "He just got on my nerves. But after this afternoon, I just flipped out…" I proceeded to recount the events that had taken place. After he'd heard me out, the professor bridged his hands across his nose.

"Lilly, I admit that you probably shouldn't have behaved towards Leo in that way. But I'm afraid that this was always going to be the end result." I nodded.

"Are you going to go talk to him?"

"In the morning." He said, rolling away. "After a good night's sleep he might be easier to reason with."

He didn't have to wait that long. That night, at around midnight, an alarm sounded- the mansion's security had been breached! I quickly suited up and ran into the corridor, seeing everyone else was in the same position.

"What's happening?" I had to shout to get myself heard over the hubbub.

"It's the brotherhood." Called Rogue, her hair puffed up and uncombed. "They decided to pay us a little visit. Nothing we can't handle." Lori grinned, hands reaching for the little sack of plastic pellets she kept in a small zippered compartment of her suit.

"Let's get this show on the road!"

We arrived at the door of the mansion to find the property being slowly destroyed. Earth was rippling everywhere, trees getting uprooted, and we were all receiving punches from someone too fast to be seen. Some heavyweight guy was currently bashing around the fountain, another was jumping around doing general damage, and then there was Leo, crushing the security guns.

When I saw him I ran up angrily as the rest of the X-Men dealt with the others.

"What are you doing, Leo? Why did you leave?" I dodged his hands trying to grab me, but was a hair too slow, and he soon had one hand on each arm. I gave trying to fight.

"Was it because of me? I'm sorry about what I said…" I spoke softly.

"Yeah, Lilly. It _was_ because of you." His voice was equally soft. "But maybe not for the reasons you might think."

"Then why?" I cried. "Why are you doing this? This isn't right, Leo! Those guys are a bad influence! If they ally with that Magneto guy again-" He frowned, still not letting me go, unconsciously lifting me up an inch.

"Who?"

"He's like an evil super villain or something, kidnapped my parents and I when I was seven-"

"Pietro didn't mention _him._" I wriggled desperately.

"Why would he, he's Magneto's _son-" _He dropped me, and looked around, seeing his friends skedadling

"Time to go." He said, giving me a mock salute. "See you sometime, Lilly Garcia."

I just stood there, mouth slightly agape. Rogue came and patted me on the shoulder. "Ah'd forget about him. Guy doesn't know what he's missing." I spun around.

"Why does everyone always assume _that_?" She shrugged.

"Ah was right about your sister and Bobby, so I figure I could be right about you too."

I looked around.

"Whatever I may think of Leo, one thing's for sure; there's going to be on massive clean up job tomorrow morning."

The next day after school, I pulled with Louis in front of the brotherhood boarding house.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel.

"I'm sure." I said, and got out of the car.

"Personally, I think you're making a good choice." I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Louis." He grinned.

"Any time."

Nervously, I rung the doorbell, and cringed when it belted out some corny horror movie theme tune. When it opened, a man in his early twenties stood in the doorway.

"Another X-Man come to join our ranks?" he asked, speaking almost too fast to comprehend.

"Not a chance." I assured him. "I'm here to see Leo." He bowed and gestured for me to come in, his hand adding a little flourish. I entered warily, happy that Louis was still out there, watching my back. In a flash, the man shot upstairs, and I could have sworn I saw an imprint of him left behind.

"Leo! Your girlfriend's here to see you!"

"He's not my boyf-" I started automatically, just as Leo came down the stairs muttering the same thing about me. Then we saw each other.

"Hey." I said. He looked grungier than ever, his jeans ripped to the extent that his knees were clearly visible. But I didn't think _eww _like I would have the day before.

"Lilly? What are you doing here?" I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Actually, Leo, there's something I need to tell you…"

_Flashback: That morning_

After thinking about a certain person for much for the night, I walked up to Alice that morning and jabbed her in the chest.

"I've figured it out!" I exclaimed triumphantly. "It's been you making me feel all weird about Leo!" She shook her head sadly.

"Lilly, I have almost no control over my powers. There's no-one for me to practice on. If I'd used them, you'd be clinging to his shirttails like an adoring puppy right now."

"But… But… How?" was all I could manage to say.

"It's all real, Lilly. I didn't do a thing."

After an eternity I asked her, "Does he feel the same way?" She grinned.

"I don't need my powers to tell me _that_."

_End Flashback_

"So Leo, what I mean to say is… um…" He waited patiently.

"I don't hate you." He smiled briefly.

"Well, that's a relief."

"No, I didn't mean it like _that_. I _don't _hate you. Actually, quite the opposite." His smile grew. "So… Please come back with me." When he spoke his tone was teasing.

"What makes you think I'd come back for you?" I gave my hair an exaggerated flick, which must have looked weird coming from a girl in cargo pants and a worn black t-shirt.

"Because I'm drop dead gorgeous?" I suggested.

"Nothing wrong with that." He agreed, and when he'd grabbed his bag, we walked back to the car, hand in hand.

_Ok, fluffy, I know, but more tension comes in SOON! Please, please, PLEASE review, I know people read it, and just a couple of words really make me want to write more. If you don't like it, and that's why you don't review, please tell me what I can do to improve! _

_allyg1990_


	7. Return and Romance

Not everyone was as happy as me that Leo was back- Lori, for one, didn't think much of the deserter, though most of the staff were fairly forgiving, except Scott of course. Luckily in Scott's view, the ideal punishment was a two hour lecture which Leo later told me he slept through anyway.

Kitty in particular went out of her way to be nice to Leo- something about one of her boyfriends being from the brotherhood. She even went as far as to give him cupcakes- fortunately, they were store-bought, and so he didn't get poisoned.

A day or two later, Cherry and Bobby were due to return from Tibet. Naturally, Josh and I were the first to volunteer to go pick them up, and I decided to drag Leo along.

"It'll be fun. And you've wanted to get out of the house." I pointed out. He sighed.

"Going to pick up two relatives you and fish boy are bound to start hugging and stuff isn't exactly what I meant." I poked him.

"You just think we'll ignore you and you'll get all jealous." He grinned.

"Will you?"

"Of course I will." I assured him.

"If you're just going to ignore me, why do you want me to come?" I smirked.

"It'll be entertaining to see you sulking." He laughed.

"In that case, I won't deprive you of your precious entertainment."

We didn't have to wait long at the gate- their flight was a little early. Spotting them was easy, because my sister's hair, that had finally decided to stay honey-blond, was puffed up from the long flight. She was wearing an 'I love Tibet' t-shirt, and Bobby too had opted for something related, though his top had an ice-blue traditional Chinese dragon printed on it.

When Cherry saw us, she squealed and ran over to hug me. I let her, and snickered as Bobby ruffled Josh's hair, causing it to stick up at all angles. I stepped back out of her embrace, forgetting my promise to ignore the other boy.

"This is my friend Leo." I introduced him. She raised an eyebrow at me, as if to say _Friend?_ And I just raised one back at her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Cherry."

"You wouldn't prefer Mrs. Drake?" Bobby butted in. She moaned.

"It makes me feel so _old…_"

The amount of luggage they'd accumulated was extraordinary- they'd left with a suitcase each and now they had three times that amount.

"It's mostly presents." Cherry said defensively, while Leo easily piled them on a trolley. Bobby gave her a look, and she relented. "Fine, there are some clothes too. And a few cookbooks, and there was such a cute baby clothes store in the airport…" She trailed off.

"Who did you buy baby clothes for? Rachel? They might be a _leetle _too small. But they might occupy her for long enough to allow Scott to figure out a way to glue his shades to his head…"

"If we said yes, we'd be lying." Said Bobby slowly, his smiled widening. Josh and I turned to each other, and gave into a fit of childish excitement.

"We're going to have a niece or nephew!" I caroled. Josh straightened an imaginary tie.

"Call me Josh. Uncle Josh." I gave him a smack on the arm.

"That is _too_ cheesy!" I cried. Leo grinned.

"I'd say it was too fishy…" He got a slap too.

"Ouch!" I covered my ears. "Bad pun, bad pun!" Then, turning to my sister, "How long left?" She smiled.

"Seven months. It'll be born in May." She told me. I restrained myself from clapping excitedly; it wouldn't do anything for my image.

When we finally got out of the airport, Kitty was waiting in the car. When Bobby filled her in, she nearly jumped through the roof of the car.

"No way! That is like, so cute! I can't wait to have kids…" She sighed wistfully. Josh sniggered.

"Let's just hope they don't turn out like Kurt. Or the words 'It looks like the house has been invaded by monkeys' will take on a whole new meaning." I grinned, putting on a Barbie accent.

"As well as the words, 'hmm, what color works with your skin tone?'" Kitty pursed her lips, mock-angry.

"I do not talk like that."

"I know you don't." I told her. "But it's still funny."

When we arrived back at the mansion most of the others there had similar reactions, especially Lizzy, who started cooing over my sister's stomach in an extremely freaky way.

Cherry hadn't been lying- they _had_ bought a lot of presents. Mine was a black varnished wooden carving of a dragon with garnet eyes, which was a happy diversion from the usual pink fluff she tried to force upon me. Bobby had bought Alice two white mice, which at first she looked at as if he were crazy, until he clarified.

"I was thinking that if we can get Dr. McCoy to spay or neuter them or whatever it is, you could have a bit of power practice." At this her eyes lit up and for the next day or so, she wouldn't let the cage out of her sight. As it turned out, her powers _did_ work on animals, and the mansion ended up with two very loved up mice. Whenever we commented on this she would just grin evilly, and tell us that if we weren't careful she'd give us all obsessive crushes on Logan. Now that's what I call a dangerous relationship…

A few days later, Leo and I were allowed to join the main training session with all the other X-Teens. Laura was in an evil mood that day, (probably because Alex had driven down somewhere warmer to do some surfing), and split us into teams, to defeat each other at all costs.

I was put with Lizzy, Lorelei, and Josh. Jamie was filling in to make up even numbers on the other team. We were set at opposite ends of the wood next to the institute, separated by a fairly narrow but deep river. I grinned when I heard about this 'obstacle'. When you've got a water manipulator on your team, a river is no obstacle at all.

We started off cautiously, wondering if the others had managed to cross the river yet. Then Lori had the smart idea of using one of her plastic discs to stand on, fly up over the trees and scout from above. She returned a few minutes later, looking pleased with herself.

"No where near us." She said cheerfully. "They're about a kilometer away from the river. If we get there first, we can cross it and sneak up on them." Josh raised his eyebrows appreciatively.

"Good job. Though I'm not sure why they're being so slow, they must have something up their sleeves. Let's move."

We reached the river in no time, and started to lie and wait for the other team to arrive.

Only, they didn't. It had been almost an hour when Lizzy finally stood up. The rest of us followed suit.

"It doesn't look like they're coming in the near future." She explained, stretching out. "So I think we should just-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, as a log came flying at her. Concentrating, I quickly transported it out of the way.

_They're here._ I thought. _Or at least, Leo is!_

Then Alice darted out of the bushes, aiming a kick at Josh on her way, but he grabbed her foot and threw her to the ground. Then, an orb of water in one hand ready to soak her, his other hand firmly planted on her chest to stop her moving, he suddenly moved away, sobbing,

"I can't hurt you, Alice." He wailed. "I love you too much." She smirked, and then with a clap, he was released. His eyes narrowed.

"I'm going to get you, _Cupid!"_ He snarled, lunging at her. She just grinned, and lazily kicked him away.

Meanwhile, Lori and Louis were fighting furiously, his polished steel staff (Gambit had promised him an adamantium one if he mastered the use of something a little less valuable) locked with her thin makeshift plastic one. He tried countless times to snap it, and though he succeeded, she just fixed it right back up again with a wave of her hand.

"Damn it, Dreamer!" she growled. "Either do something, or give up." After a few seconds, he managed to touch her skin for long enough to call on his powers. As she dropped to the floor, he had the decency to lift her out of the mud and prop her up against a tree trunk, her sleek black hair mussed up.

"Happy to oblige, _mon amie._" He told the sleeping girl, and turned around to survey the site.

Lizzy was happily battling Jamie, who had surrounded her with multiples armed with superior combat skills, and was leaning against a nearby tree watching her try to get free.

"Let me at him, you stupid clones!" she yelled, finally blasting through the copies and standing in front of the older boy, who hurriedly uncrossed his arms. She grinned, and let the blue beams play around her fingertips.

"I'm sure this isn't necessary, Tazer…" he tried to reason with her, and failed.

"It sure is, Multiple man. But I'm about to prove that the English are good for a lot more than just a rainy day!" With that she shot him repeatedly until he fell into the slushy earth, clutching his stomach dramatically.

"Beaten by a kid." She told him. "I won't say girl, you see, because that would be sexist. In any case, I don't see why people think we're weaker. In actual fact…" She continued lecturing the twenty year old who had to endure double the pain- both the physical, and the mental torture inflicted by Lizzy's speech.

I, on the other hand, had ended up against Leo, half terrified that his wild side would dominate and throw me off a cliff or something, half relishing the challenge.

He tried to kick my legs from under me, but I hopped into the air, calling on quick reflexes from years of Karate classes.

"What'cha gonna do, lion cub?" I taunted, drawing on Logan's nickname. "Embarrass me to death?" He tried again, this time aiming a punch at my stomach, but I dodged it.

"That's the oldest line in the book." He grumbled, as I repeatedly rolled out of the way, my uniform acquiring a layer of dirt. Forget trying to beat him, trying to stay alive was enough of a problem.

"I know, but it sounds good." I cursed myself for speaking as he pinned me down with a log, taking advantage of my distraction. His face was about a foot away from mine, leaning on the tree trunk just enough so that I couldn't move, but not enough to do more than put a little pressure on my ribs. My hands pressing against the large piece of wood, I forcefully willed it to move to the other side of the clearing. After a few seconds, it vanished with a _pop_, instantaneously reappearing a few meters away.

The downside of this was that the mutant who had been leaning on the log lost his balance and fell flat on his face, which was unfortunately right above mine.

"Ow." I muttered, rubbing my bruised nose. "That hurt." He pushed himself off the ground, which was an improvement from us being sandwiched together, but below the waist we were still touching. He stayed like that for a few awkward moments, the emotion in his brown eyes looking like confused amusement. _Or amused confusement. Does it matter which?_ I thought, the notions bouncing around my skull surprisingly Cherry-like. Then he stood up, pulling me up with him, and dusted himself off.

"Good fight." He supplied.

"Yeah." I said shortly. "Are you calling a truce?" He laughed.

"No. Are you?" I wouldn't back down from a possible victory. Better to go down fighting.

"Nope." With that I jabbed him sharply in the stomach, summoning a thin tree branch into my hands in an ill-fated attempt to keep him away. And just like that, the moment was gone, pushed away to a poorly stocked corner of such memories in the dark recesses of my mind, only to be called on at night, while I was lying in bed, and staring at the firmly glued on glow in the dark stars someone had once stuck to the ceiling.

_Yes, I know, too much fluff, I promise more rifts will come soon…_


	8. Shopping and Power Surges

As the weather cooled down, it became increasingly hard to survive in my thin cargo pants and t-shirts, and by the end of October, when Cherry caught me shivering as she drove over to pick us up from school, I knew I had no choice but to face my fears and shop.

My sister had recruited Lizzy and Alice to escort me, choosing to spare me the horror that was Kitty for the time being. She dropped us off at the mall, waving cheerily at me as I directed a death stare in her direction. Then the two girls dragged me in, and the torture began.

First, I sat stubbornly on a stool in the corner of some shop, surrounded by lace and frills and fluff. I'd never been one to cower, but if Alice and Lizzy had been uncaring enough to actually add any of those items to the pile they were creating for me, I might have been reduced to tears.

Fortunately, they were nice enough to choose the types of clothes I liked- an army-green t-shirt with the words _Military Girl_ printed on it in bold letters, a few similarly emblazoned tops in various colors (Red was allowed, pink was strictly forbidden.), a pair of loose fitting jeans, a long trench coat that bore no resemblance to Gambit's whatsoever, and a pair of brown camouflage cargo pants that were a little too hip-hugging for comfort.

When I said as much to Alice, she just laughed.

"You've got a figure, embrace it. Besides, we had to incorporate some sort of girly theme _somewhere_, or your sister would have been disappointed. Having endless sparring sessions with someone who doesn't feel the pain isn't the best experience." Lizzy shuddered.

"No, it isn't. Especially after I found out how it feels when I blast someone. Not pleasant."

"Really?" I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. "Nah, I wouldn't have thought it felt good to be hit with an energy bolt that packs a two hundred pound punch." She flicked me with a bright blue-painted nail.

"Actually, I'm up to two hundred and ten pounds now. Still got a long way to catch up to Cherry or Scott though." I rolled my eyes.

"What are they at?" She thought about it.

"Cherry's a three seventy five, Scott… something like eight hundred for an average blast. At the moment. So it could increase as his powers keep developing." I whistled.

"Yup, you're a candle to his forest fire." I noted. She elbowed me.

"That makes me feel a _lot_ better." I shrugged.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it."

When I'd paid and received my bags, we decided to treat ourselves to some doughnuts. As we sat down, Alice opened up the bag and peered in.

"Okay, what do ya want?"

"Chocolate covered." I said quickly, before Lizzy could answer. But as I looked down, the doughnut was neatly placed on a paper napkin next to my hand. I tilted my head up at Alice.

"That was fast." She looked at me worriedly.

"You're not supposed to use your powers." She hissed under her breath, nervously looking around. I frowned.

"I didn't. At least, not on purpose." The incident was soon forgotten, that is, until I decided to buy a hot cocoa and started to pay.

"Two dollars and fifty cents." The woman said, and without even asking, the coins were in my hand. I shook my head quickly, trying to clear my thoughts. To no avail. For the entire ride back home with my sister, any object in the car I thought about would snap right to my side. By the time we got back to the mansion, I was buried under tissue boxes, mobile phones, lipstick tubes, and god knows what else.

As soon as we arrived Cherry grabbed me and pulled me out of the mess and hurried me through the mansion to the med wing, eventually having to levitate me over so it would be easier for me to shield myself from the vases crashing into me again and again as we went. I was aware of my sister frantically healing up the numerous cuts scattered around the exposed skin of my arms and legs, but all I could do was concentrate, try to get it to stop.

It didn't work. Cherry got me into the med wing, took off her sweater and tied it around my eyes, and yelled "Dr. McCoy, you need to do something _now_, or she's going to destroy everything in the mansion." He quickly sprinted over, a syringe of some clear liquid in his hand. I wasn't as injection-phobic as Cherry had been before getting her powers, but I still winced as the needle bit into my skin. Then, after a slight blurring of color, I blacked out.

I woke a few hours later to see the professor beside the hospital bed, electrodes attached to my forehead. I found that I couldn't speak, but my attempts were silenced by the professor's mental voice.

_This way is easier._ He commented.

_What's happening to me? _I asked.

_A power surge- your powers are developing at a rate you cannot control. I am trying to suppress them using my telepathy, but it would be foolish and probably impossible to completely suppress them. Try to focus just on your breathing, and don't let your thoughts wander. Or, as your sister aptly noted, you might destroy a large proportion of the objects in this house. _I tried to smile, and failed.

_Do the meditation thing, huh? Sure, why not?_ And I clamped my eyes shut and did as he suggested, falling asleep in no time at all.

My dreams were weird- I was in my hospital bed, floating in the middle of blackness, only Leo was there too. He didn't say anything, just stood there. For a long time. If it had been real, that would have gotten old real fast, but in the dream it seemed pretty normal.

To my surprise, when I woke up, I had to blink a few times: Leo _was_ standing at my bedside, though his expression was slightly annoyed rather than happy and everything. I sat up.

"Come to visit the invalid?" I asked jokingly. He rolled his eyes, though he didn't seem angry.

"Well, it's been a six hour visit- I was halfway through dinner when I suddenly appeared here. You _summoned_ me. Which was quite weird, since I thought you couldn't transport people yet?" I wrinkled my nose in thought.

"I never tried, but it didn't seem likely. But after a power surge, who knows what I can do?" I twiddled my fingers playfully.

"But yeah, whenever I tried to leave- to finish dinner, to go to the bathroom or just plain go away- you summoned me right back here. So I'd appreciate it if you gave me some free time now." He crossed his arms across his chest, and it was getting extremely difficult to disguise my embarrassment with indifference.

"Sure, sure." I flapped my hand at him in what I hoped was an uninterested gesture. "Don't feel you have to return, either." I added.

"Why would I?" he said, walking away, and I couldn't fathom what emotion was behind his words. My heart sank. _Yeah, why would he, Lilly? You've just put him under practical paralysis for the last six hours, what kind of a person _likes_ whoever did that to them, and would risk coming back and enduring the same fate?_

"Forget I said that." My voice was quiet, because I half didn't want him to hear. He spun around quickly, turning to face me, as if I'd repeat it, but I was silent, and he walked out of the room, leaving me to feel sorry for myself, which was a relatively new experience for me.

_I really feel like a ginormous bar of Hershey's. That always makes Cherry feel better when she's depressed. _And with a thud, a bar of chocolate landed on my lap.

I blinked. This was getting very, very, strange. I couldn't just wish for things and get them, could I?

_Professor!_ I shouted mentally. Within a few minutes, the man wheeled himself into the med wing.

"What is it, Lilly?" he asked gently. I pointed to the chocolate.

"I kind of wished I had some chocolate, and this appeared. Am I summoning it, or making it exist, or what?" He frowned.

"Try it again. Wish for another bar of chocolate, if you would." I obeyed, and with a _clunk_, another bar landed on the first one.

"Galaxy! Fantastic." I exclaimed, and then composed myself. "So, where did it come from?"

"As far as I can tell, you subconsciously brought it from the candy store near your house- it was because you have happy memories related to it. It seems that your mind draws these items you want from your ideal place to obtain them- in this case, that shop." I pursed my lips, confused.

"But that's over a hundred miles away! A few days ago, I had trouble moving a log ten meters across a clearing." He sighed.

"That's only to be expected. For now, I'd like you to return the chocolate to its original position. The location is fixed in your mind; it must have been for you to visualize the object it the first place." I clenched my fists, and after a second or two, the chocolate was gone. He smiled.

"Well done. However, as soon as you're feeling up to it, I suggest we do some extra power control sessions, so you don't have any accidental slip-ups, especially not those involving _people_." He gave me a stern look, and it was all I could do not to turn crimson.

"Works for me." I said hurriedly, before he could expand on that point. He smiled knowingly at me, and chose that moment to leave, the quiet humming of his wheelchair pretty much the only sound in the med wing. When he'd left, I flopped back onto the pile of cushions supporting my head.

_A hundred miles, huh? And that was without any effort. Wonder if I could do the same to people._ I gave myself permission to giggle, seeing as there was no-one around. _Lilly Garcia's five second flights. I could make a fortune._

Then my thoughts returned to the other pressing matter at hand: had I totally blown it with Leo? The 'why would I?' comment had _hurt. _

In any case, his recent actions made it clear that he definitely didn't like me anymore- at least not in _that_ way. This was a shame, really, because I had just started to get used to the idea of liking him. I'd even done the whole sentimental getting him to come back to the institute and holding his hand thing. For nothing.

I told myself that the reason I was annoyed, and admittedly a teensy bit upset, was because of all that wasted girlishness. But the underlying source of my troubled feelings was actually disappointment. Of the deep, soul-scarring variety. If I'd been a normal feminine teenage girl, this would have been the point where I'd start sniffling, grab Alice and Lizzy and spend the night in front of the TV with a romance movie and a bucket of double chocolate ice-cream. Instead, I grabbed my ipod, jammed the headphones into my ears, and turned up something depressing at full volume, trying to drown my sorrows in music.

_Ok, she's WAY overreacting, I know. Please forgive me. And also, any codename ideas for Leo or Lilly are welcome. The ones I have at the moment aren't great._

_allyg1990_


	9. First Date

For the next month or so, life was going pretty much according to plan. School was better than average, in art, it was still _people,_ _people, people_, though Lizzy had decided on drawing a comic strip as her assignment. A fairly basic one, no doubt, but with her fairly good coloring she would probably scrape a pass. Especially since the teacher would probably be too busy searching through junk stores for more purple feather boas to grade our pieces.

I had made up my mind shortly after the power surge incident to ignore Leo completely- he seemed to be perfectly happy to give me the same treatment. The other kids at the institute were confused by this, always asking me _why_, but I was adamant that I didn't actually like him at all. Of course, Alice knew better.

"Why can't you just admit it and make up?" She told me one day. "First of all, it's just plain annoying to see you guys sulking like toddlers who've had their toys taken away, and secondly, all this unfulfilled attraction is driving me nuts."

I crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest. "Sulking, am I? And it's more like fulfilled hate. Are you sure you can't sense _both_ emotions?" I asked jokingly. She glared.

"I think I know very well what my powers are, Lilly!" She snapped, and stalked off.

_Geez._ I thought. _First Leo, now Alice._

I was even more annoyed the next day when Laura walked up to me, and delivered a piece of news.

"I want to show Alex how fast we've whipped you and Leo into shape, so you will both attend a danger room session this afternoon at three. Be ready." She warned, and walked away.

After much moaning, I suited up and was outside the danger room at three, shortly joined by Leo. This time, there were no friendly greetings, no remarks at all. We just silently scowled at each other. Leo leant against the door of the danger room, and when the door opened, found himself sprawled on the floor. I smirked, and stepped over him into the now familiar room.

The doors shut solidly behind us, and I snapped my fists up, ready for whatever was going to hit me in the next few seconds.

Nothing did. Instead, Laura spoke into the loudspeaker, Alex grinning behind her.

"One of the qualities of a good team is that everyone talks to each other and works out their differences. They tell each other about how they feel- for example, if I thought Scott was leading you wrong, I'd tell him so he could fix it. So you aren't leaving until you've worked things out." And she sat down in her chair, pressing a button to put blinds around the glass, to make us feel we weren't being watched. Of course, we knew better.

After about ten minutes, Leo spoke.

"After your power surge… Why did you keep ignoring me?" I stepped back, confused.

"_You_ keep ignoring _me_!" He frowned.

"But… I mean, you never talked to me after that." I put my hands on my hips.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd want me to break the ice. It was _you_ who said you didn't feel you had to come see me." His face turned red, out of embarrassment or anger, I couldn't tell which.

"I _didn't_ have to." He snapped. "And I know it probably came out all wrong and upset you. I'm sorry, ok? But you could have made an effort to talk. Or asked someone else to. Or…" He was cut off by Laura cheerfully speaking into the microphone.

"Kids, kids! You're acting like three year olds. Now kiss and make up so we can forget about this all and start our session." I rolled my eyes.

"Make up, I can do." I said, extending a hand. He took it, his grip warm, sending a static shock of electricity tingling down my spine.

"Works for me." He said softly, and then let go. I straightened, trying to dispel the awkwardness.

"The sooner we get beaten up, the sooner I can have a hot bath." I told Laura, who was still hidden behind the blinds. "Start shooting."

The session was over quickly and went well- now that I'd gotten over my anxiety of coming within three meters of Leo, the whole working-as-a-team thing improved a lot.

When the guns were finally reduced to scraps of useless metal, we both stood there, slightly out of breath. Once he could summon up the energy to talk, Leo asked, "You know that movie that came out this week- the one with the famous martial artist?"

"Rush Hour 3?" He nodded, and then spoke quite fast.

"Yeah. Lizzy mentioned that you wanted to see it, and since they're having a shopping marathon this Saturday, which you don't seem to be too enthusiastic about, do you want to come see it with me?" _He looks so cute when he's nervous._ I thought dreamily, and then snapped out of it.

"Anything to get out of shopping. That would be great." I said thankfully. He looked relieved.

"Ok then, around 7 good for you?"

"Perfect. Thanks again." I called over my shoulder as I walked into the changing room. Then I allowed myself a brief moment of childish skipping. Life was good…!

After changing, I immediately found Alice and told her. Her eyes glazed over.

"Finally! Lots of happy love vibes. So much better for me than the unrequited painful ones. This is going to drastically improve my mental health." I nudged her playfully.

"Your mental health was debatable to begin with." I reminded her. She pouted.

"The only thing that is debatable is which word describes me better, gorgeous or stunning." She informed me. I sighed. It wasn't fair that she was pretty as _well_ as having attractive powers. You only need one or the other to get by.

Lizzy butted in. "So, what are you going to _wear_?" Lori, who had been passing through the corridors when she heard us, put in her two cents.

"You're going to need to go shopping." She said bluntly. I cringed.

"But not having to go shopping's my excuse for going with him in the first place! I just went last month! Surely I have _something_ I can wear!" I begged. They finally relented, and Alice dragged me into her room to look at clothes she could lend me.

After much deliberation and several rejected sequined ensembles, we all finally agreed on what I should wear. Since I absolutely refused to put on a mini skirt, Lizzy had offered up a pair of black skinny jeans. Alice decided on a fairly skintight red shirt, (_Embrace the figure!_) as I had gotten over my phobia of all things tight- it's not hard when you wear spandex half the time.

On the actual day, I locked my door and plugged up my ears so I wouldn't be subjected to the customary 'wake up extremely early and spend all day getting ready' routine. I finally dared to venture out of my room at lunchtime, and sprinted to the dining room so they couldn't catch me. This resulted in the reception of multiple death stares from three separate people, Kitty jabbering about weird beauty products, Rogue rolling her eyes in exasperation, and Gambit watching the whole thing and silently laughing.

"Remy thinks you are putting too much effort into this. Leo is not going to notice if her skin is one shade darker than normal. You can't see anything in cinemas anyway, it's too dark." The four girls turned their faces to him, and any other man would have shrunk back a little. Not Remy LeBeau. He shrugged. "_C'est vrai_. **(It's true)**"

"_Thank_ you." I said. "At least _someone_ has sense." He grinned, absentmindedly stirring his soup.

"No problem. You see, this is why I love _ma chere_ so much. She don't keep me waiting while she figures out what color to wear" He explained. Rogue glared at him.

"Ah hope that ain't the only reason you married meh." He was quick to answer.

"Of course not, _chere._ You and Remy are similar in so many ways, like pink gives us both a headache." Her eyes narrowed further, and he relented. "Of course, the fact that you are _la plus belle femme dans le monde_ **(The most beautiful woman in the world)**helps a lot too." The southern woman settled down in her seat after that, smirking.

"That's more lahke it. Now go and get me a glass 'o water". He sighed, and then stood up, kissing her forehead on his way to the refrigerator.

"Anything for you, _chere_." Kitty shuddered.

"I'm still getting used to Rogue accepting public displays of affection." She explained. "Time was, she'd put someone in a coma for doing that." I grinned.

"Gambit's too quick to be knocked out by Rogue." I told her. "He's learnt to expect it." By this time the man in question had sat back down at the table.

"Remy's getting slower than he used to be." He admitted. "She hasn't knocked him out in, what, how long has it been, _chere_? Three months?" She growled.

"Give me a reason to hurt ya, Cajun, and ah'll do it with pleasure." It was Remy's turn to smirk, but before he could say anything sordid, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." I said quickly, and went to open the door.

On the doorstep stood two people about my sister's age; a tall, blonde guy and a woman with dark hair and skin.

"Hi." I said uncertainly, not really recognizing them. The woman smiled.

"Lilly, right? Cherry mentioned in her postcard that you'd joined the institute. You've grown since I last saw you." I grinned, running my hand through my hair.

"Everyone says that. I'm sorry, I can't remember your name….?"

"Amara." She supplied quickly. "And this is Sam." She said, pointing at the blond, who was looking tired from carrying several enormous red bags embroidered with flames. He raised a hand weakly.

"Hi." I said in reply, and eyed the bags uncertainly. "Are you okay with all those bags?" At this he stood up straighter.

"Of course." I shrugged.

"Suit yourself." Then he tripped over the doorstep, and I sighed, pointing at the bags and visualizing the upper landing. And after a few seconds, they all disappeared, with barely any strain on my part. Sam looked at me, grinning.

"That's pretty cool. Can you transport yourself, too?" I shook my head.

"No- not yet, anyway. Apparently I might be able to, but it would be too hard to repeat a lot, like Kurt does. Moving people out of the way is a whole lot easier." I explained.

Amara stepped daintily inside. "Guess whose back?" she called out, and with a patter of footsteps Cherry and Kitty arrived, throwing themselves at her in a jumble of hugs and greetings.

"It's been too long!" Kitty exclaimed. "How were the volcanoes?" The fiery mutant sighed dreamily.

"Fabulous. Poor Sam almost got incinerated by a few of them, though." He came up behind her, giving her a mock salute.

"Anything for you, Amara." He teased, and she slapped him playfully on the arm, though harder than he would have liked, as he winced when her hand made contact.

"Anyway," said the royal. "I need to go freshen up, nine hour flights don't agree with me. See you later." And she walked up the stairs to her room. Sam followed her, letting out a sneaky yawn when he thought no-one was looking.

Alice and Lizzy seized the opening to grab me, marching me straight up to my room to change. After I'd showered, they'd blow dried, straightened, and done something else with my hair, lifting it far off my neck where it usually lingered. Then came clothes- squeezing into those jeans was no easy feat- and finally, make-up, consuming most of the afternoon.

After around four hours work, I was finally set to go, walking down the staircase with the air of a member of the royal family. Leo was waiting at the bottom, his jeans without rips for once, and his shirt fairly new-looking. I grinned when I saw him.

"What are you looking at?" I asked the line now familiar.

"Someone special." He substituted gallantly, making me fight to conceal the red tint forming on the apples of my cheeks.

Louis had volunteered to drive us- being all of sixteen; he leapt at the chance to drive anywhere.

When we arrived at the cinema, Louis drove away, promising to pick us up at ten, shortly after our movie ended. Then, with a rush of wind he was gone, leaving us alone in the cold, clear night.

He turned to me, and I shivered, though not just because of the cold. It was an awkward moment, so it was a relief when he started to speak.

"We should probably go get our tickets. I don't know about you, but the prospect of having to stand in the rain for two hours isn't appealing to me." I grinned.

"Good idea. Do you want me to go ahead and get popcorn?" He nodded, a smile playing at the edge of his lips.

"A packet of M&M's wouldn't go amiss." I laughed.

"Ok. See you in a few minutes." I called as I walked away, practically skipping over to the candy counter. Taking Alice's advice, I bought one super sized bucket instead of two individual ones- _"Better value, and it makes sure you have to converse at some point."_-and of course, Leo's M&Ms.

When we got into the theatre, it was completely dark, and the adverts were playing, so it took a lot of rather embarrassing shuffling for us to get to our seats. However, when the movie started, any self-consciousness either of us might have had disappeared- we were too busy laughing. That didn't mean I didn't notice it when his hand brushed against mine while reaching for another handful of popcorn, or how close his face was when he leaned over to ask me if I wanted an M&M. It just seemed… comfortable.

By the time Louis picked us up, we had plenty to talk about.

"Remember that taxi driver talking about Starbucks? That was hilarious!" I commented.

"The bit where the one guy makes fun of Jackie Chan for being short was a lot funnier." He argued. Louis just sighed to himself. _Aah. Young love._

_I know, bad end to a chapter, but this was getting too long (I try to keep them around 4-6 pages) so I'm going to have a nice, detailed next chapter. Heads up for more info on Leo's dark past… Muahahaha… _

_allyg1990_


	10. Dark Past

When we arrived back at the mansion, Louis dropped us off at the front door and went to park his car. It was dark outside, and fairly cold, too. My breath froze in midair, forming floating clouds of ice swirling around my lips.

"Well." Leo said, his voice faintly unsure. "It's getting late." I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks for tonight." I said quietly. "It was fun." He grinned down at me.

"Any time. It was nice to get out…nice to spend time with you." I was aware of my fingers knotting nervously together, and fought to calm my nerves.

"Um." I stuttered, for once in my life lost for words. "Goodnight, I guess."

"Goodnight." He murmured softly, and our eyes connected, my own green orbs trying to decipher his shadowed brown ones. Then slowly, hesitantly, with the amateurish halting movement reminiscent of a children's movie, our faces uncertainly moved closer together, inch by inch, and then centimeter by centimeter, until finally I could feel his warm, faintly spiced breath on my cheeks, chasing away the frosty dewdrops lingering there. And then at last our lips made contact for a few brief seconds, then again, and we were kissing.

Kissing Leo was- _incomparable_ – to any such previous experience. Admittedly, kissing someone you genuinely like as an end to a pretty perfect date is extremely different to kissing someone at a 6th grade party during a forced game of spin the bottle, but nothing I'd ever done before had even come _close._ Tentatively, my hands gradually moved towards him, my fingers itching to feel the muscle concealed below his scarred skin. But when they touched the fabric of his shirt, he stiffened, his whole body tensing under my fingertips. He pulled away sharply, taking a step back from me, his face stony under what little light emanated from the windows of the mansion, a fleeting look of something like fear haunting his eyes.

"Leo… what…" I started, his rejection like a knife wound in the pit of my stomach. Again his hands went to his face, stopping short of his messy hair, his fingers rubbing over his eyelids as if trying to erase that memory that had surfaced in him.

"Lilly, it's not…your fault." He said, the pain of dealing with his recollections evident in his voice. "At the orphanage…" he trailed off, leaving it at that.

_At the orphanage? What does he mean?_ I thought, racking my brain for answers.

And then it clicked. His reluctance to get close to anyone, his discomfort at being touched, the scars on his chest… It fell into place.

"Hitting you wasn't all that man did, was it?" My voice was hushed, almost too soft to be heard. He stood, silent. I came closer to him, feeling his flinch as I took his hand. "Leo, you can trust me."

When he finally spoke, his voice was breaking and crackly.

"I've never told anyone." I squeezed his hand.

"I've got until Monday morning." I reminded him. He smiled very faintly, barely there, but a flicker of hope for me.

"No. It wasn't all he did." He said at last. "It was before the beating. Until I was maybe twelve. Damn it, Lilly, there were more little kids by then. I didn't do a thing to help them. Not a thing." I held on firmly, all the tighter, patiently waiting for him to continue.

"That's why I don't want to get close to people. I'm afraid…" I carried on for him.

"That they'll hurt you in the same way?" He laughed bitterly.

"The physical pain isn't an issue now. These scars I have, the emotional ones-" he tapped a finger to his forehead. "They're not healed. They're still open wounds. And I still feel the sting when the memories come." I stood there speechlessly. In any other situation this might have been the time for a hug or something sentimental like that, but in this case, I had no idea what to do.

"I'm sorry." I said after a while. He just shrugged.

"It's in the past."

"But you still feel the pain." I countered softly.

"Is this the part when you tell me to go see a shrink so we can have an actual relationship?" he inquired resentfully.

"This is the part when I tell you to do whatever you think is right, and that I'll be there for you." I responded simply. "I've waited fourteen years to meet someone like you. A little longer won't kill me."

He laughed at that. "That's good to know." For a long time we stood in silence, just feeling the winter breezes nipping at our clothes. And that was enough for me. Just to be together.

When I spoke my voice was tinged with regret.

"We should probably go inside." He nodded.

"Probably a good idea." Then, "Lilly?" I turned my face to his.

"Yes, Leo?" Once again our lips touched, banishing the shivering cold, and with a whispered '_Goodnight'_, we parted ways.

Almost as soon as I shut the door and flopped onto my bed. I heard a knock.

"Come in!" I shouted, shrugging off my coat and throwing it onto a chair. Who would burst in but Alice and Lizzy, in their pajamas, immediately hopping excitedly onto my bed.

"How'd it go?" asked Alice, her voice shrill. I shrugged.

"Good." I replied nonchalantly. Lizzy poked me.

"Details please!" she commanded. I sighed.

"What do you want to know?" Alice clapped her hands.

"Um…. How was the movie?" I shrugged.

"Good." She scowled.

"Not good enough. Did you take my advice with the popcorn?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, yes. Great idea. Moving on…?" Lizzy scrunched her face up in thought.

"Err… Did you kiss?" I refused to blush.

"Yes." I said stubbornly. They squealed, and I covered my ears. "Ow! Not so loud."

"Sorry." Alice apologized, and then bobbed up and down again. "But it's just so _exciting!_" It was Lizzy's turn to roll her eyes.

"I think she feeds off love or something. Like a sugar high. At your sister's wedding, she nearly went nuts." I hid a smile.

"Good to know." Lizzy nodded.

"Now, back to your date. Are you guys like, going out now?" I shrugged again.

"Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know, okay!" I threw my hands up.

"Baby steps, baby steps." Soothed Alice. I grinned.

"Now get out so I can put my PJ's on. Anything else going on tonight?" Lizzy considered.

"I think we're watching some chick flick. Good old fluff." I groaned.

"And the boys?" She thought about it.

"Mission Impossible, I think." My face lit up.

"I think I'll go with that instead." I decided.

"Just warn them before you go barging in. You don't know who's going to be shirtless. Granted, for most of them, that isn't a problem at all. Not much of a difference from what you see in spandex, really." I laughed.

"Thanks for the advice."

Obeying Lizzy's words, I knocked at the door outside Rogue and Gambit's rooms.

"Come in!" Shouted a male voice. I slid the door open. Inside, Gambit, Bobby, Sam, Jamie, Alex, Louis, Leo and Josh were sprawled on the floor. Even Scott was sitting grumpily in the corner, obviously forced to stay.

"Lilly? Aren't you watching Legally Blonde or something crazy like that?" asked Josh, surprised. I grinned.

"You think I want to watch that kind of stuff? Right. Action movies are _way_ more interesting." Louis snorted.

"_Mon ami,_ I know the ways of the _filles_. You just want to see Tom Cruise shirtless." I gave him a pitying stare.

"Baguette boy, I prefer _tall_ men." I admonished him as I sat down beside Leo, making sure that we weren't making contact. He smiled cheekily up at me.

"Do I fit the bill?" I gave him a playful slap on the arm.

"That, and many other categories." I informed him. Scott glared at us.

"Must I sit through this mindless violence, and also have to watch a pair of teenagers flirt?" He asked indignantly. Gambit nudged him.

"Scooter, you can't say much." He reminded him. "Remy remembers when you and Jeannie were all over each other like mice on cheese." Our fearless leader turned as ruby-red as his shades.

"I'll have you know, me and Jean kept our relationship very private. We would never dream of engaging in such behavior in public." The older man rolled his eyes.

"That didn't stop you making moony-eyes at each other all the time." He remembered, putting on a very accurate imitation of the look Scott wore plastered across his face when he saw his wife. The instructor scowled.

"If we're going to watch this movie, let's get on with it, please. I didn't agree to stay and get less sleep than usual before Rachel wakes me up at four just to argue."

Sam obliged, switching on the plasma television Gambit had insisted on buying, to much grumbling from his wife. Their rooms were spacious, with a bedroom, a bathroom, a small living room, and even a mini kitchen. I shook my head in awe. Where on earth did all this space come from? It seemed like the many doors I didn't know what led to in the mansion were filled with such spaces, waiting to be occupied as generations of mutants grew up.

The movie started, and I smiled as Leo carefully slipped an arm around my shoulders. Life was once again going according to plan.

_Ok, i hope you like the whole dark past stuff. And i'm sorry for my sucky fluff. And not putting in Remy's Cajun accent. We don't get many Cajuns where i come from! (Germany, Turkey and England. And the states too, but i haven't encountered any in vermont yet!)_

_As always, REVIEW!_

_allyg1990_


	11. Sisterly Love

As the days went by, the temperature dropped, and by the time Christmas arrived, snow was blanketing the ground in a fluffy white layer of frozen water.

Since Cherry and I were both finally out of the house, our parents had decided to spend Christmas somewhere hot to celebrate. Not that I cared; Christmas at our house was a time when Dad sat in his armchair and read the paper, Cherry and mom baked and shopped all day, and I got my cheeks pinched by my grandmother.

Christmas was fun that year, though I didn't see my sister half as much as usual. She was too busy resting like the melodramatic pregnant woman she was. She was only four months gone, and already Bobby was treating her like the queen of Sheba. I could just cross my fingers and hope it wouldn't get worse.

The only people left for Christmas were the Professor, Dr. McCoy, Cherry, Bobby, Gambit, Rogue, Kurt, Kitty, Louis, Lorelei, Logan, and of course, Leo and I. Everyone else had flown, driven or sailed back to their respective homes. Even Laura had opted to spend Christmas with Alex, much to Logan's dismay.

So that was why Leo, Louis, Lori and I were left flopped on the couch a few days before Christmas, clutching steaming mugs of cocoa- one of the few things I _could_ cook without setting the mansion on fire. Though when it came to that, I wasn't quite as bad as Kitty- burnt was a lot better than toxic.

The show on TV was some documentary about France to which Louis was animatedly adding his own comments (Ah, the cafes, in France I go _tout les matins_ and I always have a _chocolat chaud _and a_ croissant._) (**every morning…hot cocoa)** to which Lori was listening to, one eye on the shirtless beach going men pictures on the screen. Needless to say, I was happy when Leo finally nudged me and asked if I wanted to do something else. I hurriedly agreed and a few minutes later, we were sitting in my room, Leo sprawled lazily on one of my chairs, one foot propped up on a beanbag. I had stretched out on my bed, and was flicking through the book I'd been assigned to read over the holidays: Tess of D'Urbervilles. Leo must have seen the expression on my face, because he looked up, baring an amused smile, and asked,

"How's it going?" I groaned, and flipped over onto my back, my head hanging over the side of my bed, giving me an upside down view.

"Terrible. This has to be the most boring book in existence. I really just want to strangle the girl." He laughed quietly to himself.

"I got lucky. This isn't half bad." He said, gesturing to his well worn copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_. "But I still have the modern one to read." I turned myself the right way up, propping my head up on my elbows.

"What is it?" I inquired, and he shrugged.

"I think it's called _Speak_ or something like that." I bit my lip nervously.

"It's a good book. Kind of sad though." I told him. He tilted his head inquisitively.

"Sad in what way?" I thought about how to put it, and finally came up with,

"I guess you'd identify with the character." He fell silent for a few seconds, then plastered on a grin.

"Well, if we have to write essays on character study it'll be easy." I smiled back awkwardly, but he changed the subject.

"Has anyone ever told you how cute you look like that?" I scowled, curling my finger under my chin.

"_Cute_ isn't the word I'd most like to be used to describe me." I reminded him. He grinned.

"What word do you want to be used? Dangerous?" He dodged as I threw a pillow at him. "Oh yeah. Dangerous is definitely the word." He agreed with himself. I slumped down to lie flat on the bed.

"Have you thought about your codename yet?" I questioned, this time leaning my elbows against my duvet and looking up at him. He shook his head.

"Nothing seems to work. What about you?" I sighed.

"It would help if I knew _how_ I did the stuff I do." He considered.

"Have you ever tried slowing it down? As in, trying to keep the portal or whatever you transport stuff through open for longer." I bit my lip in thought.

"I'll have a go. Pick an object." He grinned, and held up a pencil.

"Try this." Immediately I focused on it, imagining the process slowing down dramatically. Time and time again it vanished to appear in front of me, but then, as beads of sweat rolled down my forehead from the effort-

"Look at that!" he cried. The pencil seemed to get twisted in a spiral shape just before it disappeared. I flopped back and deftly caught it as it fell into my hand.

"It's like a whirlpool or something. Like a vortex. What about that? Vortex?" I laughed.

"Sounds a little villain-y. But it's an option, I guess."

Then, I heard a "Lilly! Get over here!" from my sister. I rolled my eyes and hopped off the bed.

"I guess I'd better go. Show yourself out when you feel like it." I told him, but Leo grabbed an arm before I could leave, pulling me towards him.

"Do I get a consolation prize?" he asked, and once again our eyes connected. Then I rolled onto the balls of my feet and gently kissed him.

"Sure you do." I said brightly, skipping out of the room in an extremely out of character fashion.

When I arrived in the kitchen, Cherry was standing over a mixing bowl, bracing herself against the heavy wooden table. As I walked in she looked up.

"Lilly, can you pass me the brandy?" I grabbed the bottle off the counter and set it down beside the bowl, shaking my index finger at her.

"You shouldn't be drinking while you're pregnant." I warned teasingly. She glared at me.

"It's for the fruitcake." I wrinkled my nose.

"No-one actually _eats_ fruitcake." I complained. "It's one of those things that you bundle up and give as an emergency Christmas present to your great aunt. And then you get it back ten years later when she forgets to buy _you_ something." She kept on glaring.

"My fruitcake happens to be edible." She informed me, shaking her wooden spoon in retaliation. "And we don't _have_ a great aunt to give it to. Seeing as Bobby's parents got divorced, and his only great aunt is on his disappearing father's side, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet that this cake is not going to end up being carted off to any great aunts." I laughed as she eased herself into a chair, her stomach already unnaturally large, and she had to push her chair out farther than she used to in order to not squish her baby. I gestured to her bump.

"Sure you haven't got sextuplets in there?" She smiled at the mention.

"I'll find out everything tomorrow. Hank's doing a scan. I haven't had one for the last few months, it's been pretty hectic." She admitted, running a hand through her hair.

"Do you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" I asked, grabbing a glass of water before I sat down beside her. She shook her head.

"Neither of us really wants to, even though it would help a _ton_ for picking out stuff and decorating the nursery." I snickered.

"Is my poor sister going to have to find a _neutral_ color?" She shuddered.

"I am _not_ going to paint the room beige, thank you very much. More like white with pretty detailing…" she started to ramble on as I looked around the room, bored senseless.

A few minutes later I was saved by Bobby walking in and kissing Cherry on the cheek. Being the soppy person she was, she let out a juvenile giggle.

"Hey honey." He murmured, and I took the cue to sprint out of the room before I could start puking. Leo and I would _never_ act like that. _Not in a million years _I reassured myself. At least, I sincerely hoped not.

When I walked into the rec room, I was hit full on with more romance. Louis and Lori were glued very close to one another, speaking softly, and their faces inches apart. I cleared my throat hastily.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Lori turned her head and nodded forcefully, and Louis just kept on staring straight ahead. I groaned, and walked back to my room. I needed a distraction.

Then Logan bumped into me. "I think it's time for a session." He said evilly, his white teeth shining. I gulped. _So_ not what I had in mind!

A few minutes later I was suited up in spandex, leaning up against the danger room door. I was surprised to see Kurt and Rogue walk up, followed by Gambit.

"Ah guess Logan just wanted ya to see how it's really done." Said Rogue when I asked her why I was included in this. Kurt managed to squeeze an unenthusiastic high five from his adopted sister.

"Ve make zhe best bruzzer-sister team ever." Exclaimed the twenty three year old excitedly. Gambit butted in.

"Remy knows ya mean brother-sister-brother in law team." He supplied, not wanting to be left out. Kurt scowled.

"Ve don't need your explosions, Remy." He informed the Cajun. "_Meine schwester _and I prefer zhe swift and silent route." At that moment his fiancée phased through the wall behind him to wrap two petite arms around his waist.

"You don't want to be in a team with me, Kurt?" she asked, big blue eyes staring up at him. His tail wrapped around her waist.

"Of course I do, katzchen." He said softly, and I turned to Rogue and Gambit, sure they wouldn't approve of such mushy behavior. But _no, _Gambit just _had _to choose that moment to start whispering in his wife's ear. I tore at my hair. There was no escape!

The danger room door slid open, and the couples broke apart. _About time, too_. I thought, disgusted, marching in. Following the usual drill, we all stood in the middle of the room as it warped and flickered around us to reveal a rocky outcrop.

"Find the five tokens and destroy all threats,"commanded Logan's voice, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a fairly standard practice, at least, until twenty humanoid drones dropped down out of the sky and surrounded us. I exhaled. _Oh brother._

Gambit instantly withdrew a pack of cards, expertly destroying several drone. When one got too close, he simply picked it up and charged it, and then threw the sizzling pink object several metres away from the battle scene.

Watching Kitty disable their electronics or phase through their bolts nearly got me incapacitated, so I was grateful when Kurt teleported me out of the way.

"It's a good to keep your eyes on zhe robots." He advised me before teleporting back to Kitty's side and grabbing a drone, teleporting a few hundred meters above us and dropping it.

When one of them advanced towards me, I swung my leg around and kicked its head off, another painful punch taking care of its weapons. Before I could finish it off, it collapsed to the floor, revealing a satisfied Rogue standing behind it.

"Thanks." I said gratefully. She smirked.

"Mah pleasure."

By the time the session was over, my muscles ached, fire running through my body every time I took a step as I shuffled down the corridor. Luckily Cherry's door was open and she saw me hobble past.

"Come in here." She commanded. I obeyed, plopping down on the unused footstool of her armchair. She stretched a hand out, pink light jumping from her finger to my body, and I felt my pain disappear.

"Thanks." I clicked my joints appreciatively, causing my sister to wince.

"No problem." She replied after regaining her composure. "What are sisters for?"

The next time I saw her was the following morning, looking bright and happy as she and Bobby walked out of the medical wing.

"How's the baby?" I asked, guessing that all was well.

"Great." Bobby said happily. "I can't believe that there's only five months to go."

"Five months is a _long_ time." I pointed out, and left them chattering as I walked away.

_I decided to make this chappie almost a page longer__… For some reason. Please, PLEASE review._

_Allyg1990_


	12. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

On Christmas morning I was woken up by a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I called sleepily. It was Bobby, grinning.

"Cherry told me that you wouldn't be happy if you missed opening your presents, so she sent me to wake you up." I slithered back under my covers; only finding it colder under there. I poked my head out, scowling at my brother in law, who smiled innocently.

"What? It's not like me to deny a hormonal pregnant woman her wishes. I have no desire to be dropped off a skyscraper," he explained. I glared harder.

"There was no need to make sure I literally froze my butt off." I commented as I threw off my covers and grabbed a dressing gown, stomping out of the door. He just smirked and followed me out.

When we got downstairs, everyone was sitting in the rec. room, kids around the tree, adults positioned on various couches and chairs. Gambit was flicking lazily through a pack of cards, Rogue had her arms crossed, and Logan was stretched out in a chair. The professor was in his wheelchair, and Beast had even been decked out in a Santa hat. Kurt and Kitty were entangled on one side of the couch, next to Cherry. Bobby promptly sat down beside her and slid an arm around her waist.

I sat myself between Lori and Leo, who smiled at me. Lori rolled her eyes at us and piped up.

"Can we open our presents?" she asked the Professor. He nodded.

"Go ahead." There was a frenzy of ripping, and then a squeal.

"Louis! You shouldn't have!" When the paper settled, we all saw a very red Frenchman with his signature beret, his neck in the process of being wrapped around by the arms of an ecstatic Chinese-American girl with matching grey and pink headgear.

"Ah, Louis, you're taking after _moi_." Commented Gambit, making the boy blush even harder. Rogue elbowed him.

"Remy, can't ya see you're making the boy embarrassed?" she turned to him. "But ah think this could be the start of a great relationship. Ah bet if ya ask Cherry, she'll start planning ya wedding today."

Louis quickly changed the subject.

"Gambit! You made good on your promise." He noted, appreciatively running a finger over a compact adamantium staff. The older man grinned.

"You made good on your part of the bargain. You're getting pretty skillful with that steel staff of yours."

After a few minutes of rummaging, I had collected a small pile of gifts. The professor had bought me a new book I'd wanted, called _Carpe Diem-_ though it was far from being about Latin, which I had taken six months of and given up. Cherry and Bobby's present was a lot more satisfactory: two objects resembling knuckle dusters. I slipped them on and eyed the shiny metal.

"Thanks. These are great." Cherry grinned.

"Make a fist and squeeze. Don't point them at anyone." I obeyed, and with a _snickt _noise not dissimilar to the sound of Wolverine's claws appearing, a metal blade swung outwards from where it was lying horizontally.

My pleasure must have been evident from the widening of my eyes and the slow smile curling on my lips, because my sister happily leaned into her husband's hold.

"We thought you needed something dangerous." She explained. "Seeing as your powers aren't particularly physically damaging." I scowled.

"Just because you got three powers in one doesn't mean we're all unhappy with our measly abilities." I retorted. The professor cleared his throat.

"Please, continue with the present opening. Christmas Day is no time for arguing."

I'd also received a nice blue shirt from Kurt and Kitty, a box of shortbread and a stuffed toy sheep from Lizzy, and a silver locket from Alice. (The note attached reminded me that it was fingerprint sensitive, and would open only for me. It also suggested whose picture I should put in it.)

Finally, Leo and I exchanged our presents. Buying stuff for him had been quite nerve-wrecking, but I'd finally decided (with the help of Logan) on an adamantium squash racket, to prevent future breakages. (The courts had since been reinforced, but Leo frequently expressed his annoyance at the constant piles of twisted metal he left behind every time he tried to play.)

"I've wanted something like this. Thanks." He commented when he opened it, giving me a quick kiss in front of everyone. I refrained from being embarrassed, and opened his present. And gasped.

Inside the slim box lay a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. When I slipped them on I found that they had a few silver metal studs on the back, and that my new weaponry fitted perfectly over them. Fighting gloves.

In a fit of happiness I threw my arms around his neck.

"They're _perfect_! Thank you!" I cried, and he bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"I figured they'd be useful for when you want to copy me and punch holes in the walls." He clarified. Professor Xavier cleared his throat again. "Metaphorically, of course." He added quickly. I grinned.

"Thanks, Leo." I said again, my arms still wrapped around his neck. Then, with an annoyed snarl from Logan, we separated. Gambit protested.

"And it was just getting to the romantic part." He sighed. Cherry laughed.

"My sister, the closet romantic. Who would have thought it?" I rolled my eyes.

"Closet romantic, me? Where did you draw _that_ conclusion from?" I asked stubbornly. She shook her head between fits of laughter, making my frown deepen. Then I felt a strong hand cupping my face, his thumb easing along my jawbone.

"Don't do that." Instructed Leo softly, his expression playful. "You look much prettier when you smile." I rewarded him with a toothy grin.

"That better?" I asked.

"Much."

Christmas lunch was an amazing feat, courtesy of my sister- the turkey must have weighed at least twenty pounds, the cranberry and bread sauces were delicious, and the vegetables were cooked to perfection. Even the stuffing was a hundred times better than the usual store bought stuff.

"I just hope you cook like this for me when we're old and grey." Mumbled Bobby between mouthfuls. She gave him a gentle smack on one side of his head.

"Of course I will, silly. I'm sure Dr. McCoy here will stop me going all arthritic and reduced to poking microwave meals around. Hopefully, when we're ninety we'll still be saving the world." Rogue snorted into her turkey.

"Fat chance. Ah'll probably be reading vampire stories to my great grandchildren." She muttered. "And you'll be sitting in your rocking chair and knitting sweaters."

"If you don't mind me asking, how are you planning on…?" Lori trailed off. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude-" Rogue interrupted her.

"It might have been a little insensitive, but it's a fair question. Ah mean, ah know I can't take mah touch pills every half hour, even with Hank here-" The man raised his glass of wine "making them last longer every day. But that's why I'm going to let you in on a little secret- mah powers are now well and truly under control." There was a resounding cheer around the room.

"Does this mean I can dread training miniature Gumbos in the near future?" asked Logan under his breath. Rogue glared at him, but Remy just laughed.

"Remy's sorry to tell you that that will hopefully be the case." He said apologetically, putting an arm around his wife's shoulder. "How many kids are we planning on having, _chere?_ I think six is a nice round number." Rogue shrugged his arm off her shoulders.

"How long are ya expecting me to be out of action for? And ah'm gonna insist on stellar treatment, like Cherry here-" My sister laughed. "So you'd better revise that little figure of yours." The prince of thieves gulped.

"Two is_ bien._" He amended. She gave him a long, hard stare.

"Ah'm glad you think so."

The topic of conversation changed to Kurt and Kitty's upcoming wedding.

"It'll be as soon as spring arrives." Promised Kitty. Kurt grinned.

"At least ve von't haf to hire a limousine, eh Katzchen?" he joked. "My vay gets us zhere faster and cheaper too." Kitty wrinkled her nose.

"I'd rather you didn't spend our honeymoon gorging because you tired yourself out teleporting all the way to Germany." She scolded him. I raised my eyebrows.

"You're going to Germany for your honeymoon?" She nodded.

"I can even speak German now. Kurt taught me how to order a donut." She cleared her throat. "_Ich heisse eine Berliner"_

Cherry, Kurt and I burst out laughing. "What?" Kitty asked, confused.

"Katzchen, you just said you were called a donut." Kurt explained, his tail patting her shoulder sympathetically. She pursed her lips.

"Okay, I like, might need some work." She admitted. I stifled a laugh.

"Just a little." I assured her, and carried on eating.

Both Alice and Lizzy returned early, in time for New Year, in order to celebrate by dragging us X-Teens to a concert featuring one of their favorite bands. I guess it was a chance for them to get decked out and party. Having been persuaded by the general adult population of the institute to attend, Leo and I finally agreed to go along, even though their poppy music wasn't really our kind of thing.

When we arrived, driven up by Louis in his car, I was surprised to find that it wasn't all that bad. Sure, the music was totally cheesy, but the odd slow song made up for that. It's very easy to ignore the surrounding sound when you're nestled in your boyfriend's arms, rotating slowly in time to the music, the vast majority of people paying you virtually no attention whatsoever.

The evening started going downhill when two people who couldn't be more than eighteen wandered over, obviously drunk.

"You're those geeks from that institute place." Stated the first one, slurring his words.

"What if we are?" I asked defensively, standing up straighter than usual. The second one peered at Leo and then sneered.

"And that one's the motherless-" Leo interrupted him before he could continue, clenching his fists to keep from lashing out, his body shaking with anger.

"I wouldn't continue." He warned. The guy shrugged, and they stumbled off. I tried to take Leo's hands again, but he moved them out of my reach.

"I'm going back. See you tomorrow." He muttered, and walked away. I tried to run after him, worried that he'd do something he'd regret, but the crowd suddenly thickened and by the time I made it out onto the street, I saw him leave in a taxi.

I gave a sigh of relief. _At least he didn't try to drive back in that state. _It was a small consolation, as I realized that I hadn't brought my cell phone, and I had no means of transport. Louis, Lori, Alice and Lizzy were still lost in the crowd in there, and by the time I found them, it might be too late to keep Leo from lashing out at someone.

A sickening feeling swamped my stomach as I realized I only had one option: To try and teleport myself back to the institute. Professor Xavier had assured me that it was possible, but it might drain me to the extent that I could be severely hurt.

But if I wanted to stop Leo from injuring someone or himself… There wasn't another way.

Concentrating as much as I could, after making sure no-one was looking, I focused on the image of the corridor outside Leo's room. And after a few breathless minutes, I opened my eyes to find the familiar walls surrounding me. In a fit of lightheadedness, I quickly steadied myself against the wall and checked that I was all in one piece.

After a few deep breaths to regain some balance, I slipped into Leo's room through his open door.

_Leo's POV_

I didn't hear Lilly coming; the first sign of her appearance I got was her petite hand on my shoulder and her soft,

"Leo? I teleported over, Are you okay?" And I wanted to turn around, to hold her, to smooth the worry away from her voice. But as I spun around, there was a sharp thud as my open palm accidentally connected with her head, and I remember her shocked expression, eyes wide and scared, as she flew through the air, and the sickening crunch as her skull crashed against my dresser.

Her pale, limp body lay motionless on the floor, a trickle of deep scarlet blood running through her dark blonde hair, in stark contrast to her ivory skin. As I rushed towards her, cradling her static figure in my arms, only one though played over and over in my head: What had I done?

_Ooh, cliffie. And I know, she probably wouldn't have risked teleporting home, and it's very unlikely that he would have accidentally hit her. But hey, it adds to the drama. Hope you liked this chapter. Sorry again about Remy's accent, and Rogue's statement being a bit sudden, i just wanted to get it out of the way. Please REVIEW!_

_allyg1990_


	13. Aftershocks

_Lilly's POV_

When I came to, it was in the crisp white surroundings of the med wing, the sharp scent of the antiseptic drifting into my nostrils. As the sound started to reemerge out of the stillness of sleep, it was my sister's angry voice I heard.

"What do you mean, 'Can I see her?' Do you think I'm going to let you in here, when you've just purposefully slammed your fists into her head? When hell freezes over, Leo!"

_Leo!_ I thought, the events of that night coming back to me as I instinctively raised a hand to my head, wincing when a bolt of pain shot through my skull as my fingers touched the white bandaging wrapped around it.

Then his voice filtered into my ears.

"It was an accident! You can't think I meant to do that!"

"Oh, but I do." Cherry retorted "You have anger issues, Leo, and you were in a bad mood. I don't have to be the Professor to be able to put two and two together."

"The professor believes me." He countered quietly. Cherry's snort was audible.

"The professor is too trusting for his own good! You wouldn't let him read your mind!"

"We all have our secrets!"

"If you truly cared for her, revealing a few secrets to the world's most trustworthy man wouldn't be an issue!"

"Forget it!" His voice was angry, and I heard his footsteps fade as he walked away.

Then my sister angrily marched into the room, her golden blonde hair puffed out around her head, her expression changing to worried when she saw me and rested her hand on my forehead.

"Lilly! You're up. No fever, that's good… Just you wait, when I get my hands on that boy…"

"Is he here?" I managed to croak, and she shook her head as she poured me a glass of water from a pitcher on the bedside table.

"I'm not letting him in. Hopefully you'll never have to see him again, but with the professor as forgiving as he is, I doubt he'll expel Leo from the institute, especially because he's got no home to go to. With his connections, you'd think he'd be able to find a home for a troubled mutant boy-"

"He said it was an accident…" She sighed and sat in a chair beside my bed, holding my hands in her perfectly manicured ones, adorned with pink nail polish.

"Honey, there is no such thing as an accident when you're in a bad mood, have a history of violence, and hit your younger girlfriend, ending up giving her a wound that would normally require ten stitches-" I winced. "If I hadn't healed you immediately, you could have died from internal bleeding!"

A sinking feeling in my stomach accompanied the realization that she was right- Leo _had_ meant to hurt me, no, he'd succeeded. And that trust I'd felt for him vanished, replaced by a deep-set feeling of betrayal.

But the love- the attraction, I guess, the other feelings I felt towards him, they were still there, and I felt sick as I realized I was capable of caring for someone who would do that to me.

"I still love him." Cherry shook her head sadly.

"You're fifteen. You don't know what love is."

"Fifteen?" I asked, confused. She smiled down at me.

"Happy birthday, Lilly."

_Happy birthday. Happy is not the word I'd use to describe the way I feel at the moment. _I straightened up.

"Please don't tell mom and dad." I begged. She gave me a look.

"They have a right to know that their daughter is being beaten up by her abusive boyfriend-"

"_Ex-_boyfriend." I corrected her. "That she was hit by her _ex_-boyfriend _one_ time. They might want me to come home." She was silent.

"Fine." She said finally. "I won't tell them. On the condition that you _never_ consider going out with him again." I shrugged.

"Why would I?" She accepted that, and walked off to find Beast.

In a few minutes he arrived, clipboard in hand.

"Let's take a look at that." He said, unwrapping the gauze to reveal unmarked new pink skin. "Ah, very good. You're completely healed, and free to go. I do believe that a few of your friends would like to give you your birthday presents." I smiled weakly up at him.

_Poor kid, they'd barely gotten together, too._ The thought wasn't mine, and I was taken aback.

"Dr McCoy? Did you just say something- about Leo and I just having gotten together?" I asked, trying to figure it out. He frowned.

"Lilly, I think you'd better pay a visit to Professor Xavier. He wanted to discuss this… incident…with you, anyway." I nodded, and slid out of the hospital bed, putting on a pair of slippers I found nestled underneath. Then I walked out, deep in thought.

The corridors were deserted, and I was thankful for that- talking about what had happened would be too painful.

Then I felt a presence behind me, and I spun around. Leo.

"Get away from me!" I spat, trying to cover up my mixed feelings with a semblance of hatred. He moved towards me, his eyes pain filled, dark circles surrounding them. Voices flickered in my head, feelings of suffering swarming around my mind.

"Lilly, I…" I called on my powers to push him to the other end of the hallway.

"Don't come near me, you hear? Don't talk to me, don't touch me. I'd be better off never seeing you again!" And with that I turned and ran, covering the distance to Professor Xavier's office in seconds.

The door swung open when I stood in front of it, and I walked in. Professor Xavier looked up as I came in.

"Ah, Lilly, please, take a seat." I obeyed, and he leant forward.

"Lilly, I'd like an account of what happened last night. I've already spoken with Leo-"

"What did _he_ say?" I muttered.

"Unfortunately that's between him and me." I crossed my arms in front of me.

"Fine." I recounted the events of the previous night. When I'd finished he was silent for a few minutes, his legendary mind turning over the facts.

"Well, Lilly." He said "I trust Leonard when he said that it was an accident. I will not remove him from the institute, unless you feel that it is particularly necessary for your wellbeing." I thought about it.

He'd hit me. Betrayed my trust. Yet he claimed it was an accident. What if it was? I still loved him. As much as it seemed like a good idea, I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. It would ruin his life. And I couldn't stomach the idea of messing up the life of the guy I loved.

"He can stay." I said finally. "I just want to have as little contact with him as possible." The Professor nodded.

"I can arrange that. Meanwhile, about this other incident… you heard Dr. McCoy's thoughts?" I wrinkled my nose in confusion.

"I don't know… Maybe. And when I bumped into _him_ right now, there were voices… flickering around my mind."

"May I?" he asked, extending his fingertips. I nodded.

"Just don't poke around and mess with my feelings about this. I want to figure it out by myself." I warned.

"I respect your privacy, Lilly. I will merely tap into that particular memory." And his fingers touched my temples, engulfing me in wave after wave of memories, until-

He drew back.

"It seems, Lilly, that you have inherited your mother's telepathic ability. It might not have emerged, even as your powers developed- but your recent injury exposed it. With your consent, I can start giving you private session starting tomorrow, so that you won't be disturbed by the thoughts of others. For now, try to mentally block them out, if you can. Unless there's anything else you'd like to talk about, I suggest that you go down to dinner and celebrate the rest of your birthday." He pushed over a small package.

"Happy birthday, Lilly."

I waited until I was out of the room to pull off the wrapping paper. It was a slim, black leather covered diary, my name and some sort of Celtic print emblazoned on the cover. Biting my lip in thought, I checked my watch- there was still half an hour until dinner was due to start, and I didn't feel like facing the world until absolutely necessary. I walked back to my room and sat down at my desk, deep in thought. Then, after a few minutes, I picked up a pen and began to write.

When dinner was due to start, Alice knocked on my door. I looked up as she let herself in, closing the door behind her. She sat down on the edge of my bed, scanning my face, her blue eyes piercing.

"I'm sorry." She said at last.

"For what?" I asked her, my voice flat and uninterested.

"I tried so hard." She mumbled. "I doubt you would have gotten together if I hadn't kept hinting, and pushing you at him-" I interrupted her.

"This was nobody's fault but his." I corrected. "Take a look with your powers. How do I feel about him, tell me that?" Her eyes widened, and she spoke softly.

"You still love him." I nodded.

"Don't mention it to anyone." I said quietly. "But there you go- that's your evidence. How can you say it was a hundred percent your doing, now that you know? Love… It would have brought us together in the end. And this would have happened eventually." I laughed bitterly. "I don't know what I was expecting- perfection? Like our first date? The way we connected, Alice, the way he kissed me- I've never felt that way about someone before." I paused. "And then…" I raised my hands and let them fall back to my side. "It all goes wrong."

She sat quietly for a few minutes.

"Is there anything I can do?" I shrugged.

"Unless you can take away real love, I don't think so." She shook her head sadly.

"Lust, yes. Mutual attraction, yes. Induced love, yes. But the real thing? No, Lilly. That's the one thing I can't do."

Eventually I stood up and walked silently down to dinner. People wanting to talk to me were noiselessly hushed by Alice, and if anyone saw the single tear that dripped down into my soup, they didn't mention it, though I could hear their sympathetic thoughts drifting around my mind, replaying again and again until I wanted to scream.

After putting my dishes in the sink, I headed up to my room to find my door slightly ajar, a package sitting in the middle of my bed.

There was no card, no name, but I knew who it was from. _How dare he come into my room! How dare he even make contact with me!_ The first emotion I felt was anger, but as I calmed down, I ripped apart the wrapping paper, hands trembling as I drew out a simple necklace of sheer green ribbon and rough peridots, and a small piece of paper. Written on it in fading pencil were the words, _I'm sorry._

"Sorry isn't good enough!" I screamed, ripping the paper into shreds and throwing them across the room, becoming even angrier when they landed close to my feet. I threw myself onto my bed, salty tears streaming down my cheeks, which were already tearstained for the first time in almost three years. Slowly, my sobs quieted, and when Cherry looked in on me a few hours later, all she saw were my puffy red eyes and the peridot necklace, lying beside my nightmare-wracked sleeping frame.

_I've never written anything like this before, so any suggestions/constructive criticism is welcome._

_ally1990_


	14. Coping

_Leo's Point of __View_

For days afterwards I would stare at my hands, sit for hours, just staring. The other students largely rejected me now, and the staff ignored me totally, Wolverine going out of his way to make my life hell. But that part of it was insignificant.

The reason I stared was simple: I was trying to decipher the many scars and lines and calluses, trying to see how it had happened. Had it been an accident? With each passing day my memory became hazier and hazier, blurring events until all I could remember was the blood trickling down from her scalp, my horror at my actions.

These hands… were they the hands of an abusive person? I'd sworn all my life I'd never be like that man; never subject any other person to the pain, and guilt, feelings of worthlessness and emotional wreckage he'd put me through. But I had. The neglect or ill will radiating off the others was nothing compared to the looks she gave me, her commands for me to stay out of her life. Worse was when I would walk past her room, only to hear muffled sobs filtering through the hardwood. The only person I'd ever loved, the only person who'd ever cared for me, was in pain… and it was all my fault.

For days I convinced myself that with her new telepathy, she'd pick up my thoughts, know that I hated myself, probably more than she hated me. Life got steadily worse, and when school started, it was a welcome release from the tension I felt around the mansion.

I reached a breaking point when domestic abuse became the topic for discussion in health class. Lorelei was in my class, and I felt her eyes boring into the back of head for the entire duration of the lesson. Finally I got permission to see the nurse, instead running out of the school.

It was the last lesson of the day, so I didn't feel guilty about walking the ten miles back to the mansion. It was pitch black when I arrived, and Professor Xavier was waiting outside the front door in his wheelchair. He didn't speak when I silently walked through the door, and I was glad; I didn't want to talk, not to him, not to anyone. The only person I wanted to see now, the only person I wanted to desperately try to restore my relationship with, was Lilly. And she was the one person I couldn't talk to.

_Lilly's POV._

Going back to school was hell. Sure, no-one knew anything about what had happened, but no-one would understand if I saw a happy couple walking along in the corridor and wanted to break down crying in the middle of the hallway.

My standards of work decreased, until I couldn't care less if I failed something. Art was even worse; my creative spirit was gone. All I could do was write in that black leather diary, write _anything_- hopes, fears, dreams, poems, whatever.

Then one day I was forced to sit next to him as we drove back from school. The older X-Men were out on a mission; there was no Kurt to teleport me to the mansion, no Bobby to be forced by my sister to drive me back alone.

In a lousy attempt to break the silence, Louis turned on the radio. A song I would previously have sung along to or tolerated blare out of the speakers.

_Hey girl you know you drive me crazy.  
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.  
Still I'll never understand why you hang around  
I see what's going down. _

_  
Cover-up with make-up in the mirror  
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again  
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you._

That line alone made me shiver. It was all too familiar. His undying love, proclaimed in the hallways, and later silently, with a single stare deep into my eyes, left me helpless, on one hand wanting to throw myself at him and tell him I still loved him, on the other hand wanting to collapse in the safety of my room and let the tears run.

_Leo's POV._

_Do you feel like a man  
When you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well I'll tell you my friend one day this world's going to end  
As your lies crumble down a new life she has found._

Why had I done it? Why? All it had done was left me empty, like a soulless shell. It didn't make me feel better; I hadn't been angry with her at the first place- had I? It was all such a blur. I had to do something soon, or there would be no purpose in living.

I turned my head to look at her, gazing serenely out of one open window, her green eyes shining with moisture. A common sight these days. Her hair rippled in the wind, her expression emotionless and hard. I sighed. What I would give for a second chance- to go back in time, smooth things over. But that would never happen. I was destined to live my life with the guilt, the shame hanging over me. And it would never go back to how it used to be.

That day I was faced with the misfortune of having a danger room session with Cherry. Even though she was five months pregnant, she still participated somewhat, levitating herself to survey the battle scene, and shooting the odd bolt. The frequent energy beams that 'accidentally' hit me were constant, painful reminders of what I'd done. But again, they were insignificant. Nothing compared to what was going on inside.

_Lilly's POV_

The students who returned later were just as set on making Leo's life miserable, though I would have given a lot to make sure they wouldn't. Josh in particular had become almost as vehement in his attacks as Cherry, and it wasn't uncommon to see Leo soaked to the bone as he walked through the corridors, though almost a month after that fateful day, I refused to look at him. It brought everything back.

My sessions with the professor proceeded as normal; he would let his mental shields down just enough so that I could read his mind or extract particular tidbits of information. For the most part, however, it was just theory, another hated list of things to learn, to memorize.

At least every time I passed Leo in the corridor, I didn't have to clutch my head from the pain of the strength of his emotions that were being bombarded at my mind, louder by far from is silent eyes, just boring holes in my soul.

Danger room was still a regular occurrence; every morning. The sessions were much harder than they had been at the beginning of the school year, Laura's new craze being flying sheets of metal we had to dodge. Her theory was that more than strength or technique, agility was something that would get you out of every sticky situation. Of course, kick-ass skills didn't hurt.

My head always seemed to be in the clouds, even though I threw myself into each task, as if the sweat, dirt, and occasional drop of blood would wipe away the pain. So it wasn't surprising when one day a piece of metal knocked me unconscious.

Again I ended up in the med bay, blindingly white and fresh, my ipod providing endless renditions of supposedly rejuvenating songs that didn't do much other than make me feel nauseous. Dr. McCoy took the chance to run me through his full body scan machine.

"Blood type: A positive. Powers: Object teleportation and mild telepathy. Health…Well you seem to be physically healthy, but I'd wonder if there's something bothering you…"

"I wonder." I replied, rolling my eyes. He gave me a stern look.

"Lilly, if you're still not coping, you need to talk to someone about it. Your schoolwork is becoming poor, your attitude leaves a lot to be desired, you're reserved, you never talk if you can help it, and we're all worried about you. We _want_ to help you out; let us." I stood up.

"The only person I want to help me is the one person I can never let in; for fear that I might get hurt." Then I walked back to my assigned bed and crawled under the covers, closing my eyes firmly to shut out all the light.

_Sorry, I know that this is a LOT shorter than usual, but I was warned that I was overloading on the angst, so I decided to end before I ruined the chapter. As usual, REVIEW, and please, PLEASE give me advice! And as usual, i don't own X-Men (sniff) or RJA (sniff sniff) or anything apart from the plot and my OC's. Updates might be a little slower now, as it's coming towards christmas, and being an overseas kid, i have a LOT of packing to do:)_

_Allyg1990_


	15. Reconciliation

It was the middle of the night when I was gently woken up, but I would have screamed had my mouth not been covered.

It was Leo.

I curled up into a ball, fearful of what he would do, and ready to use my powers at the first sign of real danger, but he released me, sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"Lilly, I…" he started.

"Get on with what you're going to say. I don't want to have to listen to your pathetic voice for longer than is absolutely necessary." I warned him, arms crossed. He hung his head down, and started to talk.

"Lilly, ever since that night…I've been unsure about what I did…whether it _was_ an accident, or deliberate. All I know is that either way, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you in any way- how could I do that to someone I love? You ignoring me… hearing you, _seeing_ you crying, it tears me apart. And I just want to know… if I'm guilty or if I'm innocent. Read my mind, Lilly. Figure it out." I gaped.

"You wouldn't let Professor Xavier." I reminded him. He shrugged.

"You are the only person I will ever let see my thoughts. I don't want him living my memories." He said simply. I took a breath, reaching out to put my fingertips on his temples as he stood up to let me.

"Whenever you're ready." He whispered, and I closed my eyes.

Images flashed through my mind, of a little boy, cold and hungry, cowering in a corner, his filthy body trembling in the darkness as a man walked towards him, leering. His whimpers and cries. His guilt, his belief that he was unclean, worthless.

Time flashed ahead, to the same boy, now recognizably Leo, the same man kicking him down to the floor, angry red welts appearing where his belt seared the boy's skin. This time the young Leo was silent, though I could see him flinching every time the man raised his hand.

Then his first impression of me; of a girl who was stubborn, cold, but for that reason strangely alluring. His real reason for going to the brotherhood: That he couldn't bear to live in the same place as me, to know that the person he loved hated him. His account of our first kiss; and finally, the torment he'd suffered these last few weeks.

Then surfaced the memory of that New Year's eve- how he'd turned to hug me, to hold me, but instead flung me across the room with his incontrollable strength, and how cold he'd felt when he saw me, lifeless on the ground.

When I broke away, both of us were sweat soaked, consumed by the effort.

He hadn't meant it.

It was all a mistake.

"Lilly, I love you." He murmured, seemingly half dead as I put my arms around him and pulled him close to me.

"I know, I know…" I repeated soothingly, then,

"I love you too, Leo." He grinned up at me, his features barely visible in the faint moonlight.

We fell asleep like that, finally together again. And this time, nothing would pull us apart.

I was jolted awake the next morning by a piercing scream. I sat straight up, and Leo followed suit. When my vision finally cleared, I was faced with the sight of a very angry Cherry.

"How _dare_ you come in here? Who do you think you are! Get out!" Leo winced as a couple of three hundred and seventy five pound bolts pounded him.

"Cherry, lay off him! It's okay-" She spun around to face me.

"We had an agreement, Lilly!" I untangled myself from my mess of sheets and stood in front of her.

"Tell our parents! I couldn't care less! Just stop beating up my boyfriend!"

"_Ex_-boyfriend!" Her voice was shrill. I mentally pushed her back.

"What in God's name is going on in here?" Dr. McCoy had joined us. She pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"Stay out of this Hank! This is between me and them!" She was interrupted by the soft clicking of the Professor's wheelchair.

"No, Cherry, this is between Lilly and Leo. I suggest that you step outside for a moment while I sort this out."

"But professor-" He stopped her before she could continue.

"Now." His voice was firm, and the dejected manner in which she walked out, shooting the odd glare in Leo's direction, reminded me of an insulted child.

The professor turned to us, and we obediently sat side by side on the hospital bed.

"Now, Lilly, what prompted you to…renew your relationship…with Leo?" I smiled at the person in question, who smiled back at me and squeezed my hand.

"He let me in." I said simply, tapping a finger to my temple. "I saw everything." The Professor's features relaxed slightly.

"In that case, I think that all that needs to be done is for you to clear this up with your sister. I will see that the other students and staff are informed of this recent development." He rolled away, and Dr. McCoy chose that moment to talk.

"How are you feeling, Leo?" He grinned and stood up, wincing.

"Just a little bruised. I'll be okay." The blue-furred man nodded.

"I suggest that you stay here for the time being, until Lilly has talked to her sister." I took the cue to walk out.

Cherry was standing outside the door, crossed arms resting on her swelling stomach. She looked up as I walked towards her, but before she could speak I reached up to put my fingertips to her temples.

"This will explain better than anything I can tell you." I said firmly, and for once breaching the rule to ask for permission first, I gave her the memory that cleared Leo's name.

Once it had played through, I stepped back, slightly dizzy. Cherry was silent for a few minutes, and when she finally looked up at me, it was with a guilty expression on her face.

"I have to apologize."

"No. I would have done the same in your position." Leo had come up behind us, and my sister extended her hand.

"Fresh start?" she asked hopefully. He grinned.

"At least until you have that baby and I can get you back for a couple of those hits." She laughed.

"Deal. But you're going to need a lot more than super strength to beat _me._" She warned him, shaking a finger. He just smiled widely.

"No harm in trying." I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything could just go back to normal…

Of course, it wasn't that simple. Reactions ranged from Logan's (He was still convinced that Leo was in the wrong.) to Josh's. (He took every available opportunity to apologize for soaking Leo, probably because he was scared of getting massacred.)

In any case, attention quickly shifted to Kitty and Kurt's wedding, in less than three weeks at the end of February. Kitty was going nuts over finding the perfect dress, and Kurt kept continually fretting about his image inducer going on the fritz during the middle of the ceremony, eventually going as far as to keep three on one arm hiding under his tux sleeves, just in case.

The only refuge from the storm of planning and preparation was school, and for once it was a relief to be dropped off in front of the grey building. However, the first two weeks of February were almost as hectic, with everyone fussing about the Valentine's Day dance. Leo had asked me to go with him almost as soon as we'd gotten back together, with the unfortunate consequence that I too, like Kitty, was in desperate need of a dress.

This was, of course, the perfect opportunity for Cherry, Alice, and Lizzy to drag me to the mall. Cherry, who was fairly lethargic when she wasn't using her powers to levitate herself around, sat in front of the dressing room as Alice and Lizzy ferried what seemed like hundreds of dresses to me.

"No, orange isn't really your color…" she mused as I stood before her, excruciatingly embarrassed, in a hideous carrot-colored ball gown. "And it's a little formal, too." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You think?"

Yellow, pastel pink and pale purple were all quickly dismissed, and Cherry firmly protested against one black knee length dress I really rather liked.

"I am _not_ letting you wear black. If I let you get away with it at a dance, you'll use it as an excuse to wear the color every day. Over my dead body."

"That could be arranged." I muttered under my breath, but luckily, I escaped being fried, as she was already discussing other options.

It got to the point where I didn't even look at what I was putting on, so it was a surprise when I stepped out of the dressing room to a collective _'Oh.' _

Turning to the mirror, I let my eyes widen. The dress was made of deep sapphire blue silk, strapless, with a wide black sash that made my waist look a lot smaller than I'd been told it already was. The skirt was tulip-style and barely brushed my knees. All in all, even I was pretty stunned.

Cherry waved away my wallet when we took it to the check out.

"I'm just happy you're finally wearing a dress." She explained, and as an extra celebration, she treated us all to ice cream and doughnuts, allowing herself a giant portion of double chocolate.

Valentine's Day threatened to be one of those get-up-early-and-spend-the-whole-day-preparing kinds of days, and since it was a Saturday, I employed my earplugs once more. When I crawled out of bed at around twelve, the mansion seemed empty, the only people in the kitchen being a very tired-looking Kitty and Laura, who had finally mastered the art of making coffee and was pouring herself a giant mug.

"You won't ever catch me doing this kind of crazy stuff." She informed me, gesturing to the huge pile of open wedding magazines on the table in front of Kitty. "If I ever get married, I'm doing it in combat gear. Nice and comfortable."

"Did you decide this before or after Alex publicly told you he thought you looked sexy in your costume?" I asked innocently, poking my head into the fridge to find some milk. Laura just growled and stared at her coffee, the tips of her claws unconsciously poking out dangerously close to the china mug.

"Where _is_ everyone?" I asked Kitty curiously. She raised her head from the magazine she'd been napping on top of.

"Session." She replied, grinning broadly. "The girls were all complaining that they didn't have enough time to get ready, so Logan decided to cut them short a little." I stifled a laugh. "The other adults are helping out, and Cherry kindly volunteered to be on hand so there wouldn't be any awkward comments about bruises showing through tonight."

"That wouldn't be good." I mumbled through a mouthful of cereal. Storm walked through the kitchen at that moment, and frowned in disapproval.

"Chew, my dear." She instructed gently and I obeyed, swallowing the mouthful before continuing.

"Well, I'd better go hide in my room before Alice and Lizzy get their hands on me…" I started, trailing off when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Not so fast." Warned Tazer, blonde hair dangerously mussed. "You're not getting away _that_ easily." Jamie laughed as he walked in, still fully suited up.

"You're in for it now, Lilly." He snickered, sitting down in one of the chairs and leaning backwards. "Never go near Lizzy when she's in a bad mood." The person in question glared at him, blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"You've had some…personal experience…in that area, haven't you, Jamie?" He instinctively rubbed his stomach nervously.

"I'll be going then…" he muttered, dashing out of the room as Alice smirked evilly.

"Time to get to work."

_Ah, how I love making Lizzy evil. It's so much fun. Poor Jamie, being bullied by a girl five years younger than him. _

_Yay, more fluff in the next chapter. How I miss fluff. You know the drill, please REVIEW!_

_allyg1990_


	16. Two Big Days

The next six hours were hell. My hair was attacked with curling implements, my face was attacked with makeup, and my feet were attacked with a pair of black patent heels. (As Alice explained, I'd better have some practice before we left, or I'd definitely trip down the stairs.)

The end result was pretty satisfactory. When all four of us (Lori had joined in halfway through.) were completely ready, Jean, who had brought Rachel along planning to dump her on someone, and failed, insisted on snapping a photo for one of her meticulously organized scrapbooks.

I spotted a tear in Cherry's eye as we walked down the stairs, and Bobby patted her arm sympathetically. The guys were waiting by the door, Josh looking fairly nervous as he'd finally summoned up the courage to ask Alice out for the first time, Louis dangling his car keys in hand, Leo looking up when I got to the bottom, and grinning.

"Someone's looking gorgeous." He commented as I got closer.

"You're not looking too shabby yourself." I replied as he took my hands in his much larger ones and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. Louis rolled his eyes, and shook the keys at us.

"_Vite, __vite _let's get going." He said impatiently. Lori pinched him gently.

"What, I thought you Frenchmen were all for romance?" she asked flirtatiously, his cheeks colouring as her face inched dangerously close to his.

"_Mais__oui__, mignonette, _but there will be plenty of time for romance at the dance." He reminded her. Alice rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"This is going to be fun." Josh gulped.

"Just don't try anything on _me_!" He warned. She gave him a coy smile.

"I don't need to." She said, flicking her chestnut-brown hair. "You're already under my spell." I laughed.

"She's got a point, Josh. You're smitten." I notified him.

_Pity he has such pale skin._ I thought, smirking. _It always shows when he blushes._

The school gym had been completely transformed for once, though luckily the dimmed lights disguised the overloaded pink decorations. When we arrived, Lizzy immediately ran off to find her date, and the rest of us kind of slowly integrated ourselves into the huge crowd of people on the dance floor.

I had to say, I enjoyed myself that night. Particularly because since it was Valentine's Day, there were a lot less cheesy pop songs than usual. The DJ seemed to be extremely fond of very sloppy slow songs, which was fine by me. How could I mind when it gave me a chance to put my arms around Leo's neck (the heels of course helped with this) and feel his hands sliding around my waist? This sort of thing _had_ to be the only time I couldn't mind feeling all protected or whatever.

"Leo?" I asked softly, my voice barely audible over the crooning voice of some random singer. He looked down at me, brown eyes glimmering.

"Yes?" I turned my face away, ashamed of avoiding the subject for so long.

"I'm sorry." He just grinned.

"For what?" Now I was annoyed.

"What do you think?" My tone was on the verge of snapping. He smiled to himself, and pulled me closer.

"Lilly," he murmured softly into my hair. "All that stuff… You ignoring me, Josh soaking me, etcetera, etcetera, it doesn't matter." I frowned.

"It doesn't?" He shrugged, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Not as long as I still get to do _this_." He supplied, leaning down to kiss me. And even though what looked like my entire class was staring, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

When we finally got back, looking slightly more mussed than we had when we set out, it was a grumpy Logan who had been waiting up for us.

"What took y'all so long?" he asked suspiciously, since we were an hour late. Lori, for once in her life, giggled. I suspected that the punch had been excessively sugary.

"Well, you see, it's a really funny story-" she started, but the burly Canadian growled.

"Cut to the chase, plasticine!" he snapped. She frowned.

"Only Josh calls me that!" she retorted, but seeing Logan's temper rising, her date took over.

"When we were halfway there, the car ran out of gas, and so Leo had to push it to the next gas station, but the bumper was getting a little squashed, so Lilly teleported the car and us over-" At this the veins in Wolverine's temple bulged and his face turned an angry shade of crimson.

"In _public?_ What were you thinking?"

"What else were we supposed to do?" Josh asked defensively. Alice pouted, turning on the charm.

"Yeah, Mr. Logan-" He spun to face her.

"Don't use your powers on _me_, kid! And as for what to do, the Professor makes sure you all have little objects called _cell phones_, maybe calling us up might have been an option?"

We looked at each other sheepishly. It hadn't really occurred to us. Luckily Logan seemed to calm down somewhat.

"Please don't tell me someone saw you." He muttered, rubbing his temples.

"Of course not." Leo said indignantly.

"We were really careful." I added. He collapsed into a chair.

"Just get to bed. Report to the danger room at seven o clock tomorrow morning-" A groan rose out from the teenagers present. "-And I won't make you do a month of cleaning duty."

"Yes Logan." We all carolled obediently, and sprinted to our rooms.

A knock at my door a few minutes later halted me in the middle of brushing my hair.

"Come in!" I called, wondering who would be knocking at my door past midnight.

It was Leo, of course, looking fairly awkward.

"I forgot to say goodnight." He explained. I rolled my eyes.

"You just want a kiss, don't you?" I asked knowingly. He grinned.

"That too." I slowly walked up to him, placing my hands on his chest and standing on my tiptoes to receive a kiss.

"Satisfied?" I enquired, pulling away.

"Absolutely."

Danger room the next morning was hell after a night of wearing heels, but definitely a lot better than a month of cleaning duty. After all, apart from extreme pain, what wasn't to like? 'Boring' was one word that could never be used to describe a session, although 'Fun' was definitely another.

By the time Kurt and Kitty's wedding came around, our bruises had thankfully healed. (Cherry refused to take care of them for us, as she thought it was a just punishment. Of course, she hadn't had a bruise in seven years, so she didn't know how it felt.)

Kitty had finally, to our relief, found the perfect dress. However, as the day drew closer, I found that there were millions of things you had to choose for a wedding. For example, the bridesmaid dresses. And the bouquets. And of course, the party favours, or whatever the fancy word for them is. One mustn't forget the party favours.

To describe the day of the wedding as 'hectic' would be a terrible understatement. When I walked out of my room to see mutants stampeding through the hallways, the groom porting around the house frantically searching for his image inducer, and the bride wailing as Jean frantically stitched up the pin sized rip in her wedding dress.

I promptly stepped back inside the safety of my room, locked the door, and proceeded to summon my breakfast.

A few hours later, when I realized that it was time to go, Kurt ported into my room.

"Leely? Haf you seen my image inducer?" He asked worriedly. I frowned.

"You're wearing it." I noted, seeing that his tail, fur and ears were nowhere in sight.

"_Ja_." He explained patiently. "But I cannot find zhe second back up. Zhe red one." I grinned.

"That, I can help you with." I quickly visualized the missing object, and a few seconds later it appeared in my hand. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"_Danke._" He said, and before I could reply he was gone, leaving behind his usual sulphurous cloud of smoke.

Forty minutes later, all the students and staff were assembled in some hall that had been rented for the ceremony. Since Kitty was Jewish and Kurt was Catholic, they'd decided to have a secular ceremony. Kitty of course had made up for the lack of a pretty religious venue by over decorating. Wherever you looked, there was bound to be some sort of flower arrangement staring right back at you.

In no time at all Kurt was nervously standing next to the registrar, image inducers poking out of his tux sleeves, wringing his hands nervously. Then the music started, and as a large pair of double doors opened, the bridesmaids stepped in: Jean, Rogue, Amara and Laura- Cherry had politely refused, as the dress simply wouldn't fit.

Then Kitty appeared, and a collective sigh went around the room. She was looking radiant in a simple pink silk dress, cut modestly but in such a way that it accentuated her naturally perfect figure. I sneaked a quick look at Kurt- he looked as if he might melt into a puddle at any minute out of sheer happiness.

Kitty's parents were there, of course, looking uncomfortable among so many mutants but otherwise happy for their daughter. I'd heard that the idea of their precious only child marrying a seemingly demonic blue elf had been a sore spot for them at first, but Kurt had eventually won them over with his dazzling personality- he was one of those people whom it was almost impossible to dislike.

The ceremony passed fairly quickly, and when Kitty threw her bouquet it was quickly snatched by Laura.

"What? It was a reflex!" She said defensively when Alex gave her an amused look. "Don't get any ideas." The blonde surfer whistled to himself, eliciting glares from the annoyed clone, who was very obviously itching to slice something up, but due to strict orders from the professor not to use her powers in public, she just death stared everyone.

When the crowd had been moved to the reception hall, we were all amused to see a laughing Kitty being forcefully hugged by Kurt's enthusiastic adopted parents.

"Luckily my real muzzer vasn't able to make it." Kurt would later comment dryly. We all laughed at that- the prospect of having to demolish the town hall to get rid of an intruding Mystique wasn't a particularly welcome one.

As promised, after everything had died down and the amazing twelve-tier cake had been cut, Kurt and Kitty disappeared off to Germany, leaving us younger students to clean up. Leo easily managed to fold and carry away the tables, and I finished throwing away the decorations within five minutes. Jamie, who was driving us back when we were done, could have easily multiplied to help everyone else out, but he just lazily sat one a chair propped against a wall, prompting me to quickly jerk it out from under him with my powers.

"It was the only one we hadn't packed away!" I pointed out when he looked up at me with a murderous look on his face. "Maybe you would have preferred Lizzy to blast it out and accidentally hit you?"

"No." He said quickly, standing up and dusting himself off. "Just don't do it again." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "You can't keep using Lizzy as a threat, you know!" The English girl smiled evilly at him, letting blue light play around her fingers.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I've gone up to two hundred and fifty pounds per blast." She reminded him. His face paled.

"We'd better get back to the mansion. Hop in the van." He said hastily, and walked towards the car park.

_I'm sorry, that was a little uneventful, but I'm planning to put some action in the next couple of chapters. _

allyg1990


	17. A Proposal

A few days after the wedding, Amara made an announcement.

"I'm going back home to Nova Roma- and I'm taking Sam with me." She then walked out to pack. The poor southerner turned bright red as Bobby elbowed him, saying,

"Meeting the parents, Cannonball?" He gulped.

"You could say that. I just hope they don't kill common people like me for daring to be their princess' boyfriend-" Cherry laughed at that.

"More like adoring slave." She pointed out. "But she really does like you, I'll give you that. For one, she didn't get tired of you on that year-long sightseeing trip of yours."

"And secondly, I don't usually let people I don't like kiss me." Interrupted the princess herself, walking back in to pick up her coffee. At that she bent over to kiss Sam on the cheek, straightened up, and added, "And they won't kill you. Not unless you cheat on me or something. Anyway, Daddy would probably let me fry you myself." She walked out again, and Bobby gave Cannonball a wide smile.

"You're stuck with her." He informed Sam happily. "It's not so bad, having a girlfriend who would kill you if you did anything you shouldn't have. I got used to Cherry in the end-" He yelped as his wife administered a nasty shock.

"Say that again." She ordered sweetly. He scowled.

"I hope we don't have more than one kid. You're bad enough when you aren't all hormonal." She pouted.

"Are you saying you don't love me _all_ the time?" He retaliated by leaning over to kiss her, causing me to look away in disgust.

When I walked into the corridor, I saw a terrified Alex sprint through, still in his pajamas. A few seconds later Laura appeared, chasing him with her claws out, looking very angry.

I ran after her, trying to save the Hawaiian's guts. He was pretty nice when you got to know him, and besides, Laura making him into mincemeat would just make a mess on the carpet.

I finally caught up to them, Alex cowering in a corner, Laura's claws at his neck.

"What did he do?" I asked curiously. She growled, and glared at me.

"He proposed."

The man in question shifted so he was kneeling before his girlfriend.

"I didn't expect you to react like this." He admitted.

"How else do you expect me to react to someone asking me to marry them as a dare?!" She fumed. "Who put you up to this? Bobby? I swear I'll slice him to shreds-"

"No!" he assured her. "I'm not joking. Laura, I know we've only been going out less than a year, but I've been in love with you since the day we first met." She straightened, confused.

"The day I promised I'd slice your testicles off if you tried to flirt with me?" He nodded, a dreamy smile on his face.

"I thought, _man_ that girl's got an attitude. And when I got to know you, I just…" he trailed off.

"You want to try this again?" she asked softly, in a very out-of-character way. He nodded, putting up one knee.

"Laura, will you marry me?" She retracted her claws completely, and gave into one of her unpredictable fits of emotion.

"Yes, Alex, I will!" She sobbed, throwing her arms around his neck.

"What exactly are you planning on doing?" Wolverine's voice drifted around the corner. Alex jumped up, looking like a rabbit that's standing in front of a hungry fox. Laura stood up with him.

"Dad, I'm getting married." She said confidently. A _snickt_ noise was heard.

"WHAT?" Logan lunged at the younger Summers brother, but his clone stopped him.

"Calm down." She ordered. He snarled, withdrawing his claws reluctantly.

"You expect me to calm down when my daughter is getting married to a… surfer??" She nodded.

"I do. This is my choice, and you aren't going to make it for me. Face it, Dad, I'm twenty two. I can do what I want, I'm a legal adult. Just because you're too scared of commitment to ask out Ororo doesn't mean I have to stay celibate!"

_Ouch_. I thought. Wolverine looked as if he'd been slapped.

"My personal life is none of your business." He snapped back at her, and pointed an accusatory finger at Alex. "I can live with this, but if you do anything to her, bub…" he let his claws pop out dangerously close to the blonde's face. "You're dead meat."

Rogue had long since stuck her head out of her door and watched Logan disappear with indifference.

"There must be some wedding bug in thah water." She concluded. "Ah bet that soon we'll have little blonde, blue eyed Wolverines running around thah house with their little claws ripping everything to shreds. Oh joy." With that, she walked back into her rooms and slammed the door behind her.

"What does she mean, 'claws'? I thought the claws were part of the weapon X thing." I asked Laura. She popped her claws and pointed.

"Actually, Logan and I both have claws naturally. The weapon X system just adamantium plated them." She explained.

"Wouldn't they ever break off, though?" I questioned. She grinned.

"Not often. But if they do, you just retract 'em." She illustrated this with a _snickt_. "And they heal right back up again." She realized she'd forgotten about her fiancé, and turned to face him.

"Are you okay, honey?" she crooned. He ran a hand through his long blond hair.

"I guess so. I could do with some comforting, though. Your dad's a scary man." She grinned devilishly.

"Just lead the way." I left them to it, whistling happily, mentally noting to keep out of Wolverine's way for the next couple of days, just in case.

Sam and Amara were out of the house the next morning, suitcases fairly light, because, as Amara explained, all her Nova Roman togas were in her room back home, and Sam didn't own any. To wear anything else would be disrespectful, so the clothes, shoes and accessories that made up the entirety of Amara's well stocked wardrobe were left behind. Needless to say, Sam was happy to be relieved of the four suitcases he had to carry the last time the pair traveled together.

However, as I'd predicted, Logan wasn't in the best mood for the next couple of days, and as he was unable to take it out on anything living, he announced that he would be giving us hour long danger room sessions twice a day. At first we didn't think it would be too bad, until we realized he'd upped the difficulty.

"Alright, kids." He said gleefully, rubbing his hands together as he paced around above us in the observation room, his voice filtering through the microphone. "This time, the objective is to stay alive. The sim will shut off in an hour, but if anyone gets seriously injured- I'm talking life or death here- get Lilly to port you to the med bay. Have fun." With that he left, leaving us alone with what seemed like every weapon system the danger room possessed.

"Listen up!" called Louis, assuming leadership. "Stick together. Watch each other's backs. Apart from that- Wolverine summed it up nicely with 'stay alive'".

First it was drones that we had to fight. Exaggerating aside, there must have been at least fifty. A tough job for seven teenagers.

Lizzy and I got a nice system going- I would transport them over to her, and she would blast them to pieces. Leo was having a field day crushing them, and since Louis and Alice couldn't use their powers on lumps of metal, they were attacking them as furiously as they could, Louis battering them over the head with his staff, Alice preferring the 'punching them to pieces' route. Josh was trying to sneak up on them, failing, and eventually resorted to using handsprings to get behind them before soaking them and frying the electronics. And Lori? After she threw a few well positioned plastic pellets and melted them into place, they could only feebly wobble, emitting sad screeching noises. Until she kicked them, of course.

After a while it got a little bit boring, though definitely no less challenging, to keep just standing in a place and porting them away from me. I was wearing my new gloves and knuckle-duster-esque weaponry, and for the first time, ducked under one of the drone's blades and punched it with both hands, squeezing my fists to make the blades dig deep into the machinery. With a satisfying crackle, it died, accompanied by a whistle from Leo, who grinned at me.

"Not bad, _Vortex_." He teased, exterminating a few for good measure as he mentioned the codename I'd finally chosen to take. I rolled my eyes, giving another drone the same treatment.

"Like you could do better, _Goliath_. Brute strength won't get you everywhere, you know." I retorted. He laughed.

"That's why I can do _this_." He replied, kicking off a wall to come down on another robot feet first, pushing off it to somersault neatly back onto his feet.

After that, it was almost a competition to see who could do better. Josh was already ahead with his multiple handsprings, and Louis smugly vaulted into the air using his staff, somersaulting and crushing two drones as he landed.

When the drones had been exterminated, we soon found it was far from over. With a _click, _razor-edged metal discs shot from one wall of the room. One whizzed past my head before I could teleport it, slicing off a small lock of hair. After that I was more careful, also using the metal blades on my knuckledusters to trap or block the discs before they could reach me. Leo was having a harder time- even though he was super strong, he wasn't invulnerable. I smirked as he desperately tried to dodge, wincing as a few left shallow cuts on his arms, ripping through his suit to bite into the bare skin.

Meanwhile Josh had thrown up a waterspout in front of himself, causing the discs to bounce away or be caught in the vortex and deflected harmlessly away from him. Alice was, as usual, lithely dodging left and right, and Lori had formed herself a durable shield which was already deeply scratched. One look at Louis made me laugh; he was propped against a wall, spinning his staff lazily around one finger, easily deflecting the discs. He looked so much like his idol, that if we'd given him a pack of cards and a trench coat it would have been impossible to tell the difference between them.

When it was finally over, we were sweat drenched, laced with cuts, and dead on our feet. As we trudged out of the danger room, none of us were paying attention to where we were going, and literally bumped into Jean.

"Stand up straight." She commanded, and we unwillingly lifted our heads. I winced as my muscles pulled, wishing, not for the first time, that I had my sister's powers instead. She surveyed our ripped suits, cuts and bruises, and her eyes narrowed.

"LOGAN!" Wolverine stalked in.

"Why have you been putting them through a level seven point five?" She demanded, tapping her foot against the ground, her red hair threatening to break free of its neat tie. He shrugged.

"I do the training around here. I don't have to explain myself to a kid." She fumed.

"In case you've forgotten, I've been an adult for a good seven years now! I'm a mother. I think that qualifies me as an adult. Just because you're upset about Laura getting married doesn't mean you have to take it out on innocent children!" We crept away from them, not wanting to get involved in an argument between the embodiment of perfection and the infamous instructor. It wasn't an escape though; we could still hear them yelling from our rooms.

A few minutes later we hear the roar of Logan's motorbike as he sped away, followed by the accompanying screech of Laura recklessly driving the X-Van after him. I grinned, looking out the window as Cherry healed me up; she'd never been the best of drivers, and was liable to accidentally slash the dashboard when she got mad at people overtaking her.

When my sister had pronounced me fully healed, she waddled off ('waddle' was a very good word to describe the way she walked at this stage) and left me alone in my room. A knock at the door notified me of someone's arrival; my telepathy informed me that it was Leo.

"Come in, Leo!" I shouted, turning down the music on my ipod. He walked in, shutting the door behind him.

"It always freaks me out when you do that." He admitted, perching on the end of my bed. I smiled down at him and he flopped onto his back.

"It kind of freaks _me_ out that I _can_ do it." I replied. "It's only been just over two months since I got the telepathy. It's weird knowing what people are thinking, especially when they're projecting really loudly." He propped himself up on his elbows.

"What am I thinking now?" I concentrated, opening my mind.

"You've noticed this top is a little more low-cut than usual… Hey! All the other ones are in the laundry!" He smirked.

"Was I complaining?" I crossed my arms instinctively, unaware that this just emphasized what I was trying to hide.

"What about you?" I asked, changing the subject. "How's it going with your powers?" He shrugged.

"Fine. At least with my new squash racket, a sizeable chunk of my allowance isn't removed every time I play." I grinned.

"Glad you like that. I was really stuck on what to get you."

"What, don't I have a personality or something to give you clues?" he teased. I shrugged.

"I could never say you suffer from a lack of personality… It's just, I don't really know much about you." He moved so that he was sitting cross legged in front of me, only a few inches away.

"Let's fix that. Swap information about ourselves. You start." I rolled my eyes.

"My name is Lilly Garcia-" He interrupted me before I could continue.

"_Lilyana _Garcia. And don't you have a flowery middle name too?" I glared at him, and then gave up.

"Fine. Lilyana Gladiola Garcia." He snorted. I huffed. "I never said it was pretty." I pointed out. "Okay, your turn."

"Leonard William Whitely." He said promptly.

"I'm fifteen years old, my birthday is the first of January, and I like art and music."

"Fifteen, 27th of July, I like sport… I used to play the drums." I stared.

"You're joking." He shook his head, a slight smile on his lips.

"Nope. I had a school friend who had a drum kit, used to go over to his place and practice a little. Wasn't very good."

"Um… My favorite color is green." He was silent for a moment, and then tilted my chin upwards, gazing intently into my eyes, that very color. And then softly, just before he leaned in to kiss me,

"So is mine."

_Ah, I know, totally rubbish fluff, but I needed to get this chapter up before I start thinking about a plot. And I've got a new story coming up, if that goes well I might not update this for a while. At least, not without lots of nice reviews. :) _

_I'd just like to extend a big thank you to my three multiple reviewers, Chaotic Jinx, I wish I was a pony, and mcdreamy1992. Thanks, guys. Also, thanks to Chaotic Jinx for Leo's codename, Goliath. _

_allyg1990_


	18. Trouble

A few days later we were woken up in the night by the security alarms going off. There was an intruder.

To be precise, there were seven intruders- the brotherhood, yet again. I rolled my eyes, pulling on my new mutant uniform and stepping outside my room. Everyone else was already changed and ready, and running outside. Cherry was in her bathrobe, waddling angrily into the corridor.

"Stay inside." Bobby told her firmly. She crossed her arms over her stomach, glowering.

"I want to blast those rats to pieces for disturbing my beauty sleep!" she yelled back at him.

"Think of the baby." He said softly. Her anger faded, and her hand slipped down to her belly.

"You're right." She admitted, and then looked at him sternly. "You pulverize them _for_ me, Robert Drake, or you'll be getting beaten twice." He winced.

"Sure thing." He promised her, and we sprinted out of the house by any means possible, lining up outside the door to take them on.

It was instantly confusing to see flames scattering the grounds- I didn't know anyone in the brotherhood had _that_ power. It became clear when Gambit threw a couple of charged cards at the offender, yelling,

"Johnny! Why did ya go and join this bunch of losers?" Pyro grinned manically, shooting flames up into the air.

"You know as much as oiy do that you gotta be with the woman ya love." He reminded him, gesturing to the Scarlet Witch, who hexed her boyfriend, and then caught sight of Josh and Bobby, trying to put out the flames. She fired an electric blue hex bolt at Josh, turning his streams of water against him.

Alice, from her hiding place in the trees, saw Josh fight to breathe from the jets of liquid blocking his nose and mouth, and moved her hands, seemingly trying to get Wanda to lay off him. It took a few seconds, but she dropped her hands, freeing her hold on the now drenched teenager, and walking towards him with a silly smile on her face. She stopped just short, her smile fading into an angry scowl, as she caught sight of Alice, moving her hands desperately on her perch. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't notice the hex bolt that lifted her up and dropped her until it was too late.

Luckily Bobby managed to ice up and catch her just before she hit the ground. She grinned up at him.

"Thanks, Iceman." He returned the gesture.

"I couldn't risk letting a potential sister in law get injured now, could I?" he reminded her, causing her to go crimson and jump away to find another victim.

Meanwhile, Pietro was zooming around Lori, lashing out every so often before she could notice. She held a few plastic pellets in her hand, getting ready to strike, but every time she missed. However, the speed demon didn't notice Louis come up behind them and stick his staff into the whirlwind. Pietro fell back with a cry of pain, and before he could get up Rogue absorbed him, putting him out cold.

Leo had easily overcome his old friend Nick, tossing him into a treetop, the smoker never again emerging until the end of the battle.

"Well, that was easy." He commented. I grinned.

"Don't get too overconfident."

Lizzy was busy firing bolts at Toad, who was, as usual, hopping around shooting slime at whoever he could get. Alex was similarly trying to injure Avalanche, his only difficulty being the fact that he kept on losing his footing, but he powered on, eventually overcoming the earth shaker.

Wolverine and Laura were more concerned with attacking the Scarlet Witch, helped by the fact that Bobby was speeding around them from high above on his ice ramps, continuing to freeze and re-freeze her feet to the ground to make their job easier.

I was, in a way, having fun taking on Blob, because every time he got close, I would just teleport him backwards. It was a relief when Jean and Scott, who had arrived in the midst of the battle, finally took care of him for me- I might not have been teleporting the man very far, but he was an awfully large chunk of mass.

None of us saw Pietro re-awaken, speeding over to Leo and quickly dragging him over to a large metal ball. Not until it was too late.

By the time we got there, the unseen master of magnetism had spirited him away, the brotherhood running full tilt back to their boarding house. I could only gaze after the lump of metal in shock as it disappeared, not quite believing that Leo had been taken.

I was vaguely aware of people trying to put their arms around me, others trying the move me indoors, but I wouldn't budge- my eyes were fixated into the distance, and I was feeling slightly numb. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Rogue, an apologetic look on her face, her bare hand touching my cheek.

I woke up to the now familiar surroundings of the med wing. Dr. McCoy was peering over at me, his glasses dangerously close to the edge of his nose. Then I remembered- Leo!

"He's gone, isn't he?" The man nodded sadly.

"The Professor and the senior team are working on a plan of action this minute." He assured me, but it did little to calm me. Leo was _gone,_ and I had let it happen! I could have teleported him away, or stopped Pietro getting to him; he was my boyfriend, damn it, I should have been watching his back!

I got out of the bed, walking towards the door.

"Are you sure you should be leaving?" he asked, his concern evident in his voice.

"There's nothing wrong with me." I responded sharply, and stalked away.

My destination was Professor Xavier's study; I needed to know what was going on. I crept towards the door, peering through the lock and doing my best to listen.

"Kitty and Kurt are most suited for the job, and they won't be back for another month…" That was Scott.

"No one else has the power to get in without being noticed!" Cherry sounded worried. There was a huff, apparently from Gambit, since Rogue cut in a moment later.

"Shugah, ah doubt even ya could get into ole bucket head's base- those explosions 'o yours are pretty loud." The thief didn't counter that; he knew she was right.

"Besides, we would need someone who has seen Magneto's base to even give us a clue to his whereabouts- I believe that since it is completely fabricated of metal, he moves it regularly. We last located it in the Sahara Desert, but that was over three years ago." The Professor sounded as calm as usual.

Then it hit me; who needed Kurt? _I,_ with a little effort on my part, could teleport myself into Magneto's base- I'd seen it when he kidnapped me as a kid!

Unable to contain my triumph, I burst into the room.

"I can save him!" I exclaimed gleefully. "I've seen the inside of Magneto's base- and I can teleport myself!"

"Lilly! It's very rude to listen at doors." Scolded Cherry, but her heart wasn't in it. She turned to Bobby, managing a weak smile. "You must be rubbing off on her." She murmured.

"I'm afraid that it won't be possible." The Professor's voice was stern. "It's far too dangerous; the teleportation alone would exhaust you, and it would be foolish to even imagine that a mere child could defeat Magneto." I bristled at that.

"I may not be greying with experience, but with Kurt and Kitty gone, I'm the only person who can do this! I need to get Leo out of there." _I love him._ I added silently, knowing the Professor would hear me. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Lilly. My answer is no." How could he say this? Maybe Leo was being tortured this minute, and he was wasting time over an age difference!

"Fine!" I shouted. "Just give up on him. Everyone's always given up on him. One thing's for sure- I'm not going to!" With that I turned on my heel and spun out of the door, slamming it shut behind me.

When Alice came and found me later on, I guess she expected me to be a blubbering mess crumpled on my bed. Instead, I was changing into my costume, slipping an arm through the sleeve.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. I shrugged.

"I'm going to rescue Leo. No-one else will."

"That's crazy!" she insisted. "This is _Magneto_ we're talking about- the most powerful and evil mutant terrorist of all time. Except for Apocalypse, of course." She remembered, then shook her head and continued. "You have to realize that you're fighting a losing battle." I stood my ground, slipping on my boots.

"At least I _am_ fighting." I replied softly. She sighed, thinking about it.

"Okay." She said at last, figuring out that she wasn't going to deter me. "At least eat something before you go, the teleportation takes a lot out of you." I grinned.

"Thanks Alice, you're the best." She waggled a finger at me.

"I'll bring something up. Don't move a muscle." She commanded, and walked out, returning a few seconds later with two energy bars and a banana. When I'd eaten, she looked down at me, sadly.

"I'll tell Cherry you've left as soon as you disappear in a puff of smoke." She promised.

"Tell her I held you hostage." I said seriously. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble." She squeezed my hand.

"What are friends for? Now go, before someone barges in." I brought the image of that cold metal building to the surface of my mind, concentrating fiercely, until at last I was gone, just in time to see Cherry open the door before I left.

When I reappeared, it was outside that familiar prison cell, and I shivered in the newfound cold. I wasn't uncomfortable for long; before I could do a thing, a fist connected with the side of my head and I blacked out.

_Cherry's POV_

I stared, dumbfounded, at the spot where Lilly had vanished. I had just been about to deliver the good news that the Professor had decided to wage full-scale war on the base, if she could get us there. What perfect timing.

Half an hour and a lot of frantic shirt tugging of the Professor later, I had been assured that everyone would do their best to find her, and was safely cradled in Bobby's arms, sobbing into his shirt.

"Our baby's going to grow up without an aunt!" I bawled.

"It'll still have an uncle." He pointed out. I slapped him, hard.

"You can be so tactless." I informed him. He rubbed the side of his head sheepishly, and then his tone turned serious.

"Honestly, I can't imagine that we won't get her _and_ Leo out of there. He won't hurt them, they're too valuable. After all, as far as the Professor can tell, it's just Magneto and Mystique. They might be powerful, but we've got a lot more manpower. And if need be, there's a lot of mutants out there who think Magneto's overdue for a butt kicking." I laughed through my tears, leaning my head against his chest.

"I just hope she'll be alright." I said softly. He grinned.

"Of course she will. With you looking out for her, Magneto doesn't stand a chance."

_I wanted to end that on a light-hearted note- I probably won't update for a while now. Again, a while could mean two or three days to over a week, I don't know. Can I get some reviews as Christmas presents? Pretty please? I'd also love it if you could check out my new story, 'A Troubled Past'._

_allyg1990_


	19. A Proposition

I slowly regained consciousness, drifting between the realms of sleep and awakening. When I finally came to, I was aware of two things: one, that there was a stiff object circling my neck, digging into my skin and rubbing it raw, and two, that a man I vaguely recognized was examining me.

I tried to snap back into a standing position, and failed miserably- I still had a killer headache from that blow, as if I'd been hit with a sledgehammer.

"You are finally awake." The voice was deep, powerful, and amused. I struggled to stand, the world spinning around me, my stomach turning with nausea.

"Who are you?" I slurred, peering out at him through the haze. He chuckled, raising a palm to face the ceiling, and with a low grating noise a metal paperclip rose from it, dancing around in the air. I narrowed my eyes. "Magneto."

"Yes, I am the master of magnetism. And you are Lilly Garcia, alias Vortex."

"How do you know codename? And what have you done with Leo?" I demanded, steadying myself against a wall. He smiled cruelly.

"I have a certain telepath under my command- you may enter." He called behind him, and a short, ragged man with an ape-like face scuttled in.

"Yes, Master?" Magneto turned back to me.

"This is Mastermind. He has already entered your friend Leo's mind and rewritten his memories- he will now perceive you as an enemy. There is no hope, my dear. If you want him back, I have a proposition for you." I fought back tears, my eyes stinging.

"You're lying!" I screamed at him, fighting the urge to punch the man, knowing it would do no good.

"I am not. If you need proof, well," he gestured towards the door, and Leo walked in, his brownish-blond hair as tousled as it always was, his familiar brown eyes looking down at me with disdain and coldness. I let the tears run; there was no other option for it.

"Leo…" I trailed off, sinking to my knees. He walked slowly up to me, roughly grabbing the material of my costume and hoisting me upwards, slamming me down on the metal wall.

"I want nothing to do with you." He snarled. "You are pathetic and weak. Magneto is kind to let you live." My face was frozen; his words stabbing into my heart and letting it bleed. I did the only thing I could think of doing.

I used my powers.

Nothing happened; instead an electric shock coursed through my body, electrocuting my every cell and nerve. Pain shot through me, sending me down to the ground in collapse, writhing in pain.

"I don't advise you to try that again." Magneto warned me. "Those collars negate the effect of mutant powers, and shock the victim every time he, or indeed she, tries to use them. I regret having to use them; mutants should not have to suffer. However, I know that when we rule over mankind some mutants will be… unwilling to cooperate."

"Like the X-Men." I spat. He shrugged.

"They will not be a problem to me, once we secure these collars. Once they are restrained I can wipe their minds, coerce them to join the greatest coalition of mutants in history. Nothing will stop me." I gazed down at the floor, aware of Leo still clenching his fists to stop from lashing out at me, the scrawny telepath nervously twiddling his thumbs.

"What is your proposition?" I asked at last, dreading his answer. He gave a low, throaty laugh.

"Lilly, you have no idea of your potential. For example," he motioned to a flat screen mounted on one cold, metal wall, and an image flickered into place. "This missile would enable me to finally destroy many more humans than I would previously have been capable of. It is too large for me to transport; because it is not coated in metal, trying to lift it might detonate it where it stands. However, you…" he paced around the room. "You could teleport it straight to the area I want to destroy. You would be very useful to me." He bent down so that he was at my eye level.

"You're sick." I snapped.

"Will you accept my offer?" I pretended to consider, biding my time as he got comfortable.

Then I kicked my legs out from under me, catching the old man unawares in the middle of his chest. He slumped backwards, and I stood over him.

"Try never." With that I ran out of the room, not stopping to think about why neither Leo nor Mastermind had attacked me.

When I disappeared, Leo spoke, his voice now feminine.

"She will not get far." And his body warped, his skin turning blue and his eyes flashing yellow, as a red-haired woman appeared in his place. Magneto sat up, readjusting his helmet.

"No, Mystique. She is a clever one. Send our guests after them. They should find it entertaining."

I stumbled through the unfamiliar corridors, pausing for breath. What would I do? I couldn't use my powers, and I was no match for anyone else Magneto might have. And Leo- I didn't want to think about him.

"Lilly?" A soft, familiar voice trickled into my ear from behind me, and I spun around, crouched into a fighting position. There, peeking through the bars of a cell, wearing a collar just like I was, stood Leo. I put a hand to my head, deeply confused.

"Leo? But you were just in there-"

"It's me, Leonard William Whitely. I used to play the drums. You gave me an adamantium squash racket for Christmas, my favorite color is green-" I laughed through my tears, reaching through the widely spaced bars to put my arms around him.

"It really is you. I got so scared, whoever that was-"

"Mystique." He interrupted. "She carried your body back past here last night. Told me she had killed you. I swear to God, if they've hurt you in any way, I'll kill them."

"I'm fine." I assured him. "Just a bit stuck for options. If we use our powers, we get electrocuted."

"And without them, we have no chance of escaping." He finished for me. We stood there, deep in thought, when suddenly, something clicked.

"Do the electric shocks get sent through the body or in a field around you?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Here, try putting your hand on my collar. I'll use my powers, and if you get a mild shock, we'll know it's through a field." I obeyed, enquiring worriedly,

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I can take it." He tried to bend the bars, and collapsed, his whole body shaking.

"Leo!" I started, but he quickly sat back up.

"I'm fine. Did you feel anything?" I nodded. "A slight shock. But I don't think it will be enough."

"Try it." He urged me. "What do I have to do?" I leant forwards.

"Just touch your collar to mine. If we both power up at the same time, it might short out one of their circuits. Either way, one of us will be able to remove the collar from the other." He leant forward too, so that my head was on his shoulder, a large section of our collars touching.

"On three. One, two, three-" Simultaneously we both tried to use our powers, the electricity surging through our bodies, and when we recovered, I looked up at Leo.

"Hey, it worked. The light on your collar's turned off." He flexed his muscles, quickly bending the bars of his prison like putty, and as soon as he was in the corridor, I threw my arms around him, and we hugged.

"Well, well. What a happy reunion." Sneered a voice. We looked up to see Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, him with his arms crossed, leaning against a wall, Wanda tapping her foot against the ground.

"What? Come to visit daddy?" I asked, breaking away from Leo as he pulverized my collar, wincing when he got a slight shock while pulling it away.

"If you want to escape-" Pietro sped around and pushed Leo to the ground. "You've got to go through us."

I couldn't teleport us there and then- I needed to be able to concentrate! A hex bolt threw me against the ceiling, making me land on the cold metal floor with a _thump_. I straightened up, now visibly angry.

"Oh, no you don't!" I teleported Wanda backwards a few feet, but she blasted me again, slamming me against wall after wall before I could retaliate.

Meanwhile Pietro was performing his favorite trick of speeding around Leo, appearing every so often to deliver a snide,

"Too slow." Or "You missed again!" before dashing away again before he could lunge. Finally Leo took a leaf out of Louis' book; sticking his foot into the whirlwind while Pietro was too occupied gloating. The speed demon crashed to the floor, Leo pouncing on him and delivering a few strong punches to knock him out cold.

"You've really got to learn." He commented, before going to help me. I was bruised mercilessly, Wanda proving much too powerful. He latched onto my arm.

"Teleport us!" he yelled between the zapping sounds of the hex bolts we were dodging left and right. I shook my head.

"I can't!" I yelled back at him. "I need a few seconds to concentrate, and if we get hexed in the process, who knows what will happen?"

"You have to try!" he replied hastily, dodging another bolt. An idea struck me, and I held on tight, teleporting right above the Scarlet Witch.

Before she could react, we came crashing down on top of her, our combined weight knocking her down. When I saw an opening, I grabbed Leo's arm again, even though one measly teleport had left me exhausted, transporting us out of there.

Everything was a bit of a blur after that; people running at me from all sides, me collapsing from the fatigue. When I blacked out, it was almost welcome.

_Short, I know, but I wrote this on a plane having been up since 3 am. Can you blame me for wanting to get some sleep:) And i'm happy i got this up quickly, the internet up here in vermont WORKS for once... Yay!_

_allyg1990_


	20. My Fault?

I woke up a few hours later, surprisingly in my own bed for once. Cherry was sitting in an armchair across the room, reading something about parenting. She looked up as I stirred, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay." She noted, turning another page in her book. I frowned. She was usually much more agitated than this! She saw my look, and smiled. "I'm getting used to it. Besides, I understand why you did it. And I know that if you thought you had to do it again, I wouldn't be able to stop you." She smiled wryly. "Kind of reminds me of when I was your age."

I pushed off the rough covers, hopping onto my feet and flexing my muscles to make sure everything felt alright. Apart from a few minor bruises, I was fine; just a bit tired.

I turned to Cherry. "What time is it?" She turned over yet another page.

"Around six. You go down to dinner; I'm going to stay here and read a while. It takes too much effort to get up." She added, grinning. I grinned back, opening the door and running downstairs.

"Lilly! You're up!" exclaimed Josh, motioning for me to come and sit down. He, Alice, Louis and Lori were seated around the table, halfway through their plates of macaroni and cheese.

"How's Leo?" I asked, taking a seat between Alice and Louis.

"Fine." The Frenchman assured me. "He took a plate up to his room; I think he feels kind of guilty that you came after him."

"That's crazy!" I insisted incredulously. "It was my choice, why would he think it was _his_ fault?"

"From what he says," Josh explained. "Magneto used him to get you to come over. He knew taking you outright wouldn't work; you'd just 'port yourself out of there. He thinks he put you in danger." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Stupid chivalry." She muttered. "Why can't guys accept that we can make our own decisions _without_ involving them?"

"Hey!" Louis interjected. "Leo has a point. I mean, it _wasn't_ his fault. But can't you understand why he would think that?" I slumped down on the table, narrowly missing my own plate of food.

"Stupid Magneto. He planned everything. He knew I'd come after Leo. Why can't the guy just leave us alone?"

"Crazy people rarely learn." Commented Lori. "Especially power-hungry crazy people."

I laughed bitterly. "At least we beat up his kids and escaped. Score one for us."

"He's not going to let it rest, you know." Alice reminded me. I sighed, and then brightened.

"Hey, what else are we X-Men supposed to do?" Josh sniggered. "I know it's cheesy." I retaliated. "But it's true." Changing the subject, I asked, "Where's Lizzy, anyway?" Alice grinned.

"Some British professor she'd heard of was giving a lecture at Jamie's university, so she decided to head over with him to hear a familiar voice. Even though she threatens to maim him every chance she gets, they're pretty good friends when you get down to it, despite the age difference. Like the big brother she never had." It was Louis' turn to snigger.

"Big brother? More like _petit ami._ I'm surprised you haven't noticed, Cupid." Alice shrugged.

"Course I've noticed. Doesn't mean I go spreading it around." I propped my chin up on my elbows.

"Is there something I'm missing?" I asked inquisitively. Lori butted in.

"It's nothing big. Lizzy has a minor crush on the multiple man."

"Is that all?" I replied, grinning. "That's kind of obvious. I'm surprised _Jamie_ hasn't noticed." Josh snorted.

"That guy's as thick as two short planks when it comes to girls. Apparently he used to have the biggest crush on Kitty." All of us proceeded to share what precious information we knew about the older X-Men.

"Ooh, ooh, I heard that when Rachel was born, Scott was way too chicken to stay in the delivery room." Alice volunteered. "Jean got so mad that she pulled him back in with her telekinesis."

"Remy once tried to spy on Rogue in the shower and found himself tied up on the roof in his underwear the next morning." Offered Louis.

"Louis nearly cried when his favorite beret fell off and got run over by Kitty." Lori added. Louis turned to glare at her.

"_Vous ne dites pas la vérité ! _" Louis retorted. "I got mud in my eye when she skidded over a puddle!"

"Sure." Lori leaned back in her seat, clearly enjoying embarrassing him. "That was why I caught you hugging it to your chest and whispering in French to it that night."

"I was thirteen!" Louis desperately tried to save face.

"Exactly." Josh concluded. "After you're eight, that kind of behavior becomes really weird." I yawned, stretching out and standing up to put my plate away.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got a boyfriend to talk to and then I'm hitting the sack. See you tomorrow." I proceeded to walk up to Leo's room, softly knocking on the door.

"Leo?" After a few seconds with no answer, I barged in anyway. He was hunched over his desk, picking at his dinner. I went straight to him, wrapping my arms around his neck from behind. "What's up?"

He turned to me, his face sad.

"You shouldn't have come." He said simply. "You could have been killed." I rolled my eyes.

"Magneto wouldn't have killed me. He needed me, if I remember correctly. Stop worrying about it. We got out, didn't we?" He turned his head to face me.

"Next time we might not be so lucky." He pointed out, brown eyes earnestly locking onto mine.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, okay? Besides, that's what experience is for." I replied, hugging him ever tighter. He was quiet for a minute, and then spoke up.

"Lilly?"

"Yeah?" He paused, and then continued.

"Thanks for being there for me." I grinned.

"What's a girlfriend for?" He smiled devilishly, standing up and moving so that my arms were still around his neck, but his wrapped around my waist.

"I can think of lots of other things." He stated cheerfully, and I squealed as he effortlessly lifted my up with one arm, releasing the other in order to tickle me.

A few minutes later, after much persuasion and promising, Leo finally took pity on me, setting me down on my bed to recover, still leaning over me, one arm propping himself up, the other still around my waist where it had supported my weight.

"You look good in that." He commented, and I realized I was still wearing my costume as he trailed his eyes over it.

"Thanks." I said softly, smiling up at him. This was an ideal lifestyle- lots of great friends, having awesome powers that no-one knows about so can't hate you for, an awesome boyfriend, and a little touch of danger. What could be better?

_What are you thinking?_ I asked him silently, making use of that particular ability. A smile curled on his lips, his hair, left a little longer than usual, falling down to frame his face.

_That I really want to kiss you now._ He replied plainly.

"About time." I said aloud. "What with meddling bucket head wannabe tyrants, it's been what, three days?" That smile stilled played over his face.

"To quote a certain book you love, _I can fix that_." He stated, leaning down to touch his lips to mine. It was me who broke away after a few moments, to raise my eyebrows and ask,

"How do you know that _Holes_ is one of my favorite books?" I demanded. He grinned, eyes mischievously sparkling.

"I came down to your room one night to see if you were up for going somewhere the next day." He replied, "You were fast asleep, and it was lying open on your stomach. I picked it up to put it away so you wouldn't squash it, and saw the writing inside." I groaned.

"_To our darling daughter on her twelfth birthday, your own copy of your favorite book._" I quoted. "I checked that out of the library so many times that they finally got me my own copy." He laughed.

"I can't say I've ever read it, to be honest." He admitted. "I watched the movie." I pushed him off me and turned so that I was pinning him down.

"That's so _bad_." I informed him. Leo just grinned again, wider than ever.

"What are you going to do about it?" He asked cheekily. I wrinkled my nose in thought.

"Well," I said, "I _could_ teleport you up to a part of the roof that you'd never be able to get down from until tomorrow morning… Or I could ask for compensation."

"You know, I _am_ super strong. I could just stand up and take you with me." He noted. I pouted.

"But I think you'd _like_ this kind of compensation." I replied nonchalantly, starting to stand up and walk away. An arm on my wrist pulled me back down, closer than ever.

"Explain." He ordered, and I obliged, kissing him again.

At that moment, someone burst into the room.

"Come on, kid, a danger room session should perk you right up…" started Wolverine, but his tone turned downright dangerous when he saw what he'd interrupted.

"In that case, both of you get your backsides down to the DR _now_." He corrected, opening the door to let us out. I rubbed my neck, more annoyed than embarrassed.

Luckily Laura had already booked it, going through a sequence with her fiancée. Alex looked pretty beaten up, even though Laura was being nice and hadn't popped her claws- yet.

We were spared a torture session, Logan instead making us watch theirs. This was less a punishment and more entertainment- by now, even Alex had twice the skill of your average stuntman, and Laura far surpassed anyone who ever starred in a movie.

At the end, Alex took a bow, causing Laura to bat him over the head.

"Don't get cocky." She told him. "I still beat you." He rubbed his head, looking wounded.

"Hey, who's the trained weapon here?" He replied indignantly. "Besides, I'm getting better. I lasted half an hour this time." She rewarded him with an affectionate one armed hug and a kiss on the cheek, much to Logan's annoyance.

"You are." She concluded. "But I'm still not fighting as hard as I could. You wouldn't survive, and I want you to be alive at least until our wedding." He gulped visibly, and we sniggered, silenced by a hard stare from Wolverine.

The couple left, and Logan crossed his arms, looking straight at us.

"I hope that taught you something." He said pointedly. I grinned.

"Not to get within a foot of each other in front of you?" I asked cheekily. He had to grin back at that.

"If that's all you learned from that session, I might just get you to get down there and-"

"Oh, we learned a lot." Leo interrupted him, paling quickly. "We'd better get back, we've got school tomorrow." He reminded the Canadian. Wolverine nodded.

"Get back to your rooms. I'll see you tomorrow night for a session." He said, and we obeyed, only daring to exchange one chaste kiss before getting to sleep.

_He he, I liked making up the funny stories about the x-men. I'll try to update quickly, time permitting. As always, reviewsfaster updates. I'll update each chapter as soon as I get one, preferably 2 reviews for it._

_allyg1990_


	21. The End: Or is it the beginning?

Kitty and Kurt returned from their honeymoon soon afterwards, Kurt hauling a year's supply of German food. Kitty was proud of how much of the language she had mastered.

"I didn't call myself a donut _once_." She exclaimed triumphantly, and then reconsidered when Kurt shot her a knowing glance. "Okay, there was that one time at the bakery. That man didn't seem to mind though- he just started laughing and gave me a free donut." Kurt groaned, putting his face in his hands.

"Now all ze village vill zink zat Kurt Wagner married a donut." He moaned, the motion of his tail flicking from side to side more agitated than usual. Kitty tried to elbow him sharply, causing him to teleport out of the way before he could be on the receiving end of a bruise. He ended up on the ceiling, monkeylike fingers and toes adhering to the hard surface, his head hanging down level with hers, a cheeky smile on his face.

"Since when did you care what anyone else thinks?" his wife demanded, arms akimbo. Kurt shrugged.

"Like zat fanfiction story Cherry showed me seven years ago said, I am actually extremely insecure about my appearance." He joked, teleporting into his chair.We all knew that he wasn't often, if at all, worried about what people made of him. He always won them over in the end with his personality anyway. **(See the Real World for that reference!)**

"So, what did you do?" Jean asked, calmly keeping Rachel from jumping off the counter with her telekinesis. All of the older X-Men were seated around the kitchen table. The other people my age were finishing up their homework, and since I'd finished, I'd taken the liberty of stealing Alice's fudge ice cream and perching on the countertop. The red headed toddler floated past me, babbling excitedly.

"Ooh Mommy this is fun…" She twittered, doing a little flip in midair. Jean only smiled tiredly at her daughter, setting her down on the floor. Rachel promptly tried to run away into the rec room, halted by Scott's extended arm. He picked her up and placed her in his lap, where she started to absently play with her fingers.

"Kurt's hometown is right next to this huge forest." Kitty explained. "It was really calm and peaceful, and we took long walks, went cycling…"

"Amongst other things…" Jamie muttered, shooting me a grin. The adults hadn't heard, and Kurt took over the talking.

"All of ze neighbors absolutely loved her." He told us happily, putting an arm around his wife. Jean rubbed her temples.

"I could do with a break." She admitted, telepathically adding, _I never thought I'd admit this, but Rachel is driving Scott and me up the wall._ She was quick to assure us that _we love her, but I've been caring for her non-stop for the last four years, and I miss being on the team._

At that moment, Alice walked in. Scott's head snapped up.

"Alice! Play with Rachel for a while!" He held out the child, who stretched her arms out and practically leaped onto my friend. Alice groaned, asking,

"Can I use my powers on her?" Scott waved a hand dismissively.

"Feel free, feel free." I quickly teleported the ice cream back into the fridge, smiling sweetly at Alice, who glared and stomped off. Remy shuddered.

"Remy prays to god that our children will be quieter." He mumbled. Rogue just looked at him, and then laughed.

"With you as a father? Fat chance!" She told him. He sighed.

"_C'est vrai._ But Remy will teach them to be sneaky." He countered. Rogue shook her head.

"That's your keys they're going to be stealing." She reminded him. He slumped over in his chair.

"Remy can't win." He moaned. Laura smirked.

"My children will be _disciplined_." She stated, glancing over at Alex. "Much like my future husband, really." He gawped.

"I am not _disciplined_." He retorted. She gave him a look.

"Honey, ours is a love/fear relationship. At least on your part, anyway." He sighed.

"Oh, the sacrifices we make for the people we love…" She prodded him violently, and he yelped, rubbing his arm and remarking ruefully, "I guess it's a good kind of pain."

Cherry snorted. "You're talking about _pain_? I have to go through childbirth, for heaven's sake." Bobby tried to comfort her.

"Don't worry, I'll stock up on Advil." He promised. She leant against him.

"Where would I be without you?" She murmured.

"Well, you'd be deprived of humor, single, and not pregnant." He said sensibly. Everyone groaned, and he looked at us, confused.

"What did I say?"

The next two months were happily trouble free- we were able to focus on danger room and school without any attacks from Magneto or the Brotherhood. The next big upcoming event was the birth of Cherry and Bobby's baby.

The due date came and went, and we eventually stopped asking if anything interesting had happened on our arrival back from school. So it came as a surprise one day when I came back from school to find Cherry absent from the armchair in the rec room that she'd practically been living in for the last month or so.

When I pointed this out to the others, Alice gave a squeal of excitement and proceeded to race us all to the med bay. Sure enough, Kitty was sitting outside the room, anxiously jabbering away to Rogue, who she'd obviously dragged along to keep vigil. When she saw us, she jumped up, heading over to where Josh and I were standing, putting a hand on each of our shoulders and giving us a sorrowful look.

"Josh, Lilly," she said, and then a smile spread across her lips. "In a while, you're going to be an aunt and uncle." We turned to each other and grinned.

At that moment, Bobby stumbled out, pale faced and seemingly worn out. He nearly collapsed onto the floor, but Rogue caught him and held him up.

"We've been in there for _four hours_." He moaned, moving to sit down on a bench. "I can't take it any more. God knows why I wanted kids."

"How long left?" I asked. He looked up at me, bleary eyed.

"Hank said about half an hour. I don't know how I'm going to survive."

"Is Cherry, like, in a lot of pain?" Asked Kitty, concerned. He shook his head.

"No, but the morphine is messing with her head…" At that moment we heard a muffled yell.

"Robert Louis Bartholomew Drake! Get back in here, you lazy popsicle! Do you want everyone to know that you're a squeamish COWARD?!" He winced, taking a moment to close his eyes and recover before calling back. "I'm coming, honey!" and walking back in.

We all looked at each other, stifling laughter.

"Bobby is _squeamish_?" asked Leo incredulously. Josh leapt to his brother's defense.

"No, but imagine how you'd feel in there." He jabbed a finger towards the door. "All the blood and…" he shivered. "No offense to your sister, Lilly, but that's kind of gross." I rolled my eyes.

"Then tell your parents you refuse to be a doctor." I said practically. He looked at me, confused.

"How do you know about that?" I grinned wickedly, tapping my temples.

"I may not be half as good a telepath as Jean or the Professor, but I can still pick up stuff you broadcast without trying to. Keep it clean, please." He turned scarlet, shooting a nervous glance at Alice, who raised a suspicious eyebrow.

Forty-five minutes later an ever cheerful Dr. McCoy poked his furry head out of the door.

"It's a girl." He said happily, letting us in. Josh and I headed straight for our siblings, Cherry's usually bouncy hair damp but a huge smile on her face, Bobby sporting a few nasty bruises but otherwise surviving. Nestled in my sister's arms was a dark-haired bundle, eyes closed peacefully. Being the quite unfeminine type I was, I restricted myself to a soft coo as my niece turned her head towards me and opened her eyes to reveal two deep brown orbs perfectly matching her sparse hair.

"What's her name?" Josh asked softly, reaching out to the newborn, who raised a chubby fist in salute. His brother smiled.

"Julia." He told us, and then smiled devilishly. "Well, actually, since we'd hate to break the tradition of long and eloquent names, "Juliana Isabella Alyssa Drake." I snorted.

"At least she got decent ones." I commented. "Much better than Gladiola." Leo hid a smile.

"How did you get those bruises, Bobby?" He asked, changing the subject. Cherry gave him a sheepish look.

"Courtesy of the pink blasts." She admitted. "Morphine makes you do crazy things."

After we'd taken turns holding Julia, who promptly started screaming, we decided to leave the little family alone for a while. Leo and I walked down to dinner together, one of his arms around my waist as I leant against him.

"I am _never_ giving birth." I commented. "Way too messy." He gave me a comforting squeeze.

"That's okay." He said practically. "We'll adopt." I shot him an amused glance.

"We're not married yet." I pointed out, not bothering to conceal my grin. He shrugged, still smiling.

"Never too early to start planning." He told me reasonably, and we walked away, uncertain of what the future would hold, but not much caring, happy for the fact that we were together here and now.

_Aargh, cheesy ending I know. If you'd like, I'll do an epilogue to show how everybody ends up, with kids and all. Hope you've enjoyed the duration of this story. Please, to those of you who have read and haven't reviewed yet, and all who've been faithfully following this, thanks, and please give me some last reviews. It would inspire me to write more… I'll post a list of kids and powers, story requests very welcome. _

_Allyg1990_


	22. Epilouge: Baby Sitting

_Nine Years Later_

_Why was it that _I_ was always stuck with baby-sitting duty?_ I flopped back onto the sofa, keeping a watchful eye on the X-Kids causing havoc around me. _It's not like I'm the youngest X-Man. Alice is a little younger, and she hasn't even gotten around to marrying Josh yet! I deserve to try and protect my husband!_

It was true. Whenever the X-Men were called on an important mission that required everyone, it was always I who was forced to watch the kids. Why couldn't they at least make Leo stay behind with me? It would have been nice to have some time with my little family, without my sister or Scott keeping _their_ eyes trained on us at all times. You'd think that once we turned eighteen, they'd stop. But no, they hadn't. Not when we'd gotten married three years ago. Not even when we'd adopted Ben.

I winced as my usually quiet four year old threw himself on top of me from his perch on the armrest, excited by the restlessness of the other children around him. I took the opportunity to affectionately ruffle his hair. He'd been with us almost eight months, settling in nicely although the other children were far older. He could have passed for our biological child, with Leo's brown hair and my green eyes.

We didn't know if he would be a mutant- frankly, Leo and I couldn't care less. It seemed likely though, because if you looked at his eyes you could see the dark purple sheen to his pupils. There was something entrancing about them, enveloped in emerald green. People would often joke that he must have been related to Remy and Rogue, causing me to smile but hug him closer to me.

My thoughts were soon interrupted by a shriek from the blonde girl sitting on a chair with her favorite book. She sprang up, popping her bone claws and glaring at her brother.

"James Summers, you are _dead_!" She warned him, blue eyes blazing, and he replied by releasing his own claws and smirking at his twin.

"You think you can beat me, Alexandra?" He jibed, dodging deftly as she lunged at him. I didn't try to break them apart- this was a regular occurrence, and besides, with their healing factors, it wasn't like they could do each other much damage.

"Cut it out!" Yelled Rachel Summers from the adjoining room. She had moved downstairs from her room when the rest of the adults had left, and was doing her homework at the kitchen table. When the two seven year olds refused to be quiet, she flung a hand out to telekinetically pin them to opposite walls. That done, she returned to her work, ignoring their whining protests.

At the coffee table in front of me, little Etienne 'Tito' LeBeau was trying to teach his cousin Rebecca 'Becky' Wagner how to play poker. Becky was the almost identical to her mother, blue eyes staring intently at the various cards, absently sweeping away a few strands of blue-black hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. To Remy's delight, his son hadn't inherited the red-on-black eyes that had made his own life a burden; instead acquiring his mother's piercing green ones. If I wasn't paying much attention, it would have seemed like six year old versions of Kitty and Remy were playing cards in front of me.

I scanned the room for damages, Ben's little head still in my lap as he fell asleep, oblivious to James and Alexandra's whimpers. Then a sense of dread enveloped me: where on earth was Julia?

"Julia?" I called nervously, carefully lifting Ben up and positioning him on the couch as I stood up. "Julia honey, where are you?" I knew she'd been scared about her parents' safety on this mission; she'd recently discovered the concept of death, and that it could happen to anyone. I figured that she'd be hiding somewhere, thinking, like she usually did, brown curls flopping over her face, liquid chocolate eyes wrinkled in worry.

"Aunt Lilly?" asked a worried voice. I spun around, looking for my niece. "Aunt Lilly? I'm up here." I turned my head to the ceiling, wondering if she'd managed to climb up somehow. Rachel had aided the other children at the feat once or twice, and I wouldn't have put it past her to give in to the younger girl's pleas.

Then I noticed it: a very faint glassiness, not unlike that of hot air, wrapped around the chandelier. I heard Julia's voice once again.

"Aunt Lilly! I can't turn it off!" she sobbed, and it was clear that the sound was emanating from the glassy patch. I took in a sharp breath; surely she was too young to have manifested her powers? Then again, Rachel had not been much older- only ten. Her worry about her parents could have triggered it, helping her to find someplace to hide.

Now that I'd located her, I reached out with my telepathy, trying to soothe her fear. At once, she became visible again, dropping down into my outstretched arms in shock.

I didn't mention what had happened, only to gaze sternly down at her and ask, "Did Rachel help you get up there?" She couldn't help but giggle at my forced anger.

"Nope." She proclaimed gleefully. "I did it myself." With that she started hovering a few inches above my arms, causing me to quickly snatch her out of the air.

"That's enough for now." I told her as I set her down once again on the floor. "You can show off to the professor when he gets back. And don't you have homework to do?" She looked up at me guiltily, scampering off to the kitchen to sit down next to Rachel.

I sighed, massaging my temples as I reclaimed my seat on the sofa, careful not to squash Ben as I sat. At least the children of other X-Men weren't here: Sam and Amara's eight year old son Julius had stayed in Nova Roma with his grandparents when his parents returned to the institute- as the heir to the throne, it was decided that he should stay there for as long as possible, until the emergence of his mutant abilities made it necessary for him to join the institute. Ray's four year old daughter Clare seldom visited, though when she did none of the adults who remembered him could help but smile; she had the same hair, spiked and refusing to lay flat, making the toddler look as if she'd disobeyed her parents and stuck her finger in an electrical outlet.

I shouldn't have forgotten the one time Roberto and Rahne visited with their newborn; the girl was a screaming, redheaded, shape shifting mess- something to do with accidental exposure to dangerous chemicals in Dr. McTaggert's lab.

Yes, I was happy that it was just the children who lived here who were under my control- six wild children were quite enough for me to handle.

By the time the X-Men returned that night, the twins had worn themselves out and were bickering tiredly, Tito flicking through a pack of cards, Becky dozing with her head on his shoulder. Rachel was reading some teen magazine I was sure her mother wouldn't approve of, and Julia, upon seeing her parents entering, shot into the air and barreled into Cherry, laughing as she retold the events of the day.

I looked up when Leo walked into, dirt smudged and tired, but still as handsome as ever, grinning as he moved towards me and effortlessly picked me up, Ben cradled in my arms, fast asleep.

"How did it go?" I asked quietly, careful not to wake the child I was holding. He shrugged.

"Nothing unusual." He replied, the deep baritone of his voice never failing to send shivers down my spine, even almost ten years after we first met. "Cracked some heads, defeated a couple of villains, all in a day's work." I scowled up at him.

"Leaving me to watch the kids." I complained, not that I actually minded as much as I led everyone to believe. Then, even quieter, "Magneto still wants to 'recruit' me?" The super villain never got over being defeated by two teenagers all those years ago, and had made up for it by never giving up on his plan to kidnap and brainwash me, declaring that he wouldn't until he succeeded. Leo rubbed his temples, holding us with one strong arm.

"Once he gets an idea into his mind…"

"It's hard to make him lose it." I finished off for him. He gave me a smile.

"It won't last much longer. Unfortunately, he'll probably have his sights set on one of the kids once their powers start developing." I shivered; this time out of fear, looking down at Ben's angelic sleeping face. It could be him one day.

I shook my head to clear it.

"Let's not think about that. Let's drop off Ben and get to sleep." He raised an eyebrow.

"Is that any way to welcome back your loving husband after a hard day's work?" I rolled my eyes, teleporting myself away in mock disgust, still clutching my son in my arms.

"Nine years, a marriage and a son after we first started going out, you _still_ think that way." I chastised, making my way up the stairs. He followed close behind me, waiting until I had deposited Ben in his bed to wrap his arms around my waist and lift me up so that our eyes were at the same level.

"Okay, okay." I relented between kisses, giving him a hard look. "But you have to take my training shift tomorrow." He swore under his breath.

"You drive a hard bargain." I smiled smugly.

"Don't I know it." And I let him carry me off, cheered by the thought that, even as time passed, there were some things that would never change.

_Okay, that's the actual end. Following is a list of the kids and their eventual powers._

Cherry and Bobby

1) Julia Drake

Brown hair

Brown eyes

Camouflage and flight

Rogue and Gambit

1) Etienne 'Tito' LeBeau

Dark auburn hair

Green eyes

Kinetic energy streams

Laura and Alex

1) Alexandra Summers

Long blonde hair

Blue eyes

Bone claws and healing factor

2) James Summers

Blond hair

Blue eyes

Bone claws and healing factor

Kitty and Kurt

1) Rebecca 'Becky' Wagner

Long, blue-black hair cut and tied like Kitty's

Deep blue eyes

Shape shifting (Inherited from Mystique)

Amara and Sam

1) Julius Aquilla (As heir to the throne, had to take his mother's surname)

Blonde hair

Blue eyes

Geokinetic- can fire magma blasts, control tectonic plates within a very limited range (around 100m) and create small amounts of fire.

Ray and Katie

1) Clare Crisp

Blonde, spiky hair

Hazel eyes

Creates static electricity that she can either shoot in mild blasts (which aren't as powerful as Ray's) or subtly use to fill people's ears from afar to create a buzzing sound that renders them unable to hear for a short period of time.

Roberto and Rahne

1) Kenzie da Costa

Red Hair

Green eyes

Animal shape shifter

Lilly and Leo

1) (Adopted) Benjamin 'Ben' Whitely

Brown Hair

Green eyes with very dark purple pupils

Sonic vibrations (cause intense ear and headache pain and nausea. Can knock people off their feet. Because they are physical, not mental, even Magneto is not immune.)

_I'm sad it's over. Any suggestions for further stories welcome. I'm planning a Romy. Maybe. Please check out my other fic, A Troubled past._

_Allyg1990_


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